WEEKLY CHAT (non-osprey) SUNDAY, JULY 3, 2016

Welcome to a new week.  Hope ALL the familiar faces will show up this week!  :-)

Go back to page 8 of the previous thread to see Mike's link to the question: How do you free a Golden Eagle caught up in a very high tree without the use of a ladder?   Page 9 shows Bowie posing for his closeup.  OG and EE are busy shooting at cats and cheering on Housemartins in the midst of home repairs (the birds that is). 

Brenda: Well, there always seems to be one lavender bush that I missed!  I have to tidy them up and take off all the dead blooms once during the summer, then in the winter, I whack 'em all back by a third. Trouble is, they're all getting old and woody.  

OH and I bought tickets to a concert tonight - Jean-Yves Thibaudet is playing Rhapsody in Blue and since the Music Academy is hosting the show, the tickets were super cheap. But now we're looking at each other and thinking we'd rather stay home in our comfy togs and relax. But no. Must hose off and rise to the occasion.

Was amazed that Djokovich got knocked out at Wimbledon so early. Shocker!

Have a good Sunday everyone.

  • Wonderful to see Heather! I hope Lindy will also come back. Good news of your progress, AQ.

    Folks, I won't be around this week due to work issues. I'm not angry at anyone, just really stressed and busy. I'll check in after this current stress is over.

    Everyone have a GREAT week.

  • Hello all and nice to see Heather back with us.

    Must say it makes a change that one of the top seeds has been knocked out - gives the others a chance.

    Now Lindy, where are you - hope you are feeling a lot better after that bug you contracted, come back to us with your witty verses and chat.

    Went to church yesterday and friend who I thought would be there stayed home. Appparently wound had started to leak at one end after the open biopsy she had almost a fortnight ago. She is seeing her oncologist tomorrow so will get to know when chemo starts.

    All well here, just planted out some plants we bought last Thursday - into pots so it brightens up the garden a bit.  Afraid I am a lazy gardener.

    Annette, Diane - HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY

  • Hello all -

    Happy Independence day, ANNETTE, DIANE and all other US watchers and posters.

    Sorry, DIANE that you are busy and stressed, will be thinking about you over the coming week.

    AQ - how great to read that you are recovering more quickly from this second knee replacement.

    News from here - Today I received the Questionnaire from the researchers at Aberdeen University. Apparently selected at random from my GP practice. Entitled' Maintaining Musculoskeletal Health'. 75 questions. Question 20 'Have you ever had trouble from frequent vomiting when not pregnant?'. Question 49 'Have you recently been thinking of yourself as a worthless person?'. This is going to be fun...

    Hopefully back later and hope to see LINDY on here again.

  • Morning all: Thanks for July 4 greetings. I think I'm meeting my daughter halfway so we can ride together to a really good firework show in the valley. (We were hoping granddaughter and Ms D might be here for that, but work has intervened - again!) We have cloud cover here at the beach and the weather forecasters were hoping it would stay high enough so we don't get "red, white and blue clouds" from tonight's firework display off the wharf. Googled hedgehog sounds and found those and multiple videos of these cute little critters.

    Heather: What does feeling like a worthless person have to do with musculoskeletal health I wonder!

    AQ: Compulsory voting? How do they know? You mentioned the procedure was different from the first knee op - any idea how?  It sounds really promising.

    Mike: That IS interesting. When used for research, drones can provide a wealth of info.

    Lindybird: I can't possibly come up with more than one poem, so please call home. Seriously, hope you're over that nasty bug and have had a chance to recoup in Wales.

  • Well, for a day in summer, today was a disgrace. Only thing going for it was it did not rain! Brother's funeral went well (as far as funerals go) and found out a lot about my brother that I didn't know. He was someone who 'kept his light under a bushel – or whatever the quote was. Spent 45 mins with HSBC trying to persuade them they are allowed to pay our funeral expenses, finally got there. Now awaiting three questions to be answered and  grant of probate looms. We have managed to do this by teamwork, hard work and perseverance. No organisation seems to make this easy!

    On a brighter note, thanks Mike for your link to Insh marshes and their new technology. Will remember our hard hats when we visit this year. The marshes are on our 'to visit' list, but only from the visitor centre as OH cannot access anywhere else. It is definitely zone in the suitable for drone use.

    Lindy please come back, your pearls of wisdom are missed, some of us miss them.

    Everybody else take care of yourselves and hopefully it will not be too long before I can be a bit more regular here. Those of you discovering hedgehogs, you have to go some to beat our three!!!

    Now being deafened by app our starlings, noisy, messy but beautiful birds.

  • Lovely morning, wet afternoon.  Busy morning included some gardening – just dead-heading and tidying various areas of the garden.  Afternoon included a shopping trip to Morrisons – with a milkshake at the ice-cream farm on the way home.   I went to pull some small carrots from the garden for dinner – but they weren’t so small, so that was a lovely surprise, and we all enjoyed the taste of really fresh home-grown carrots and courgette.  Seems we have quite a lot going on this week, so don’t be surprised if I become a semi-lurker for a while!

    Annette – training course is a three day residential in Windermere (English Lake District) – Monday afternoon to Wednesday lunchtime, towards the end of August.  If we get on this session (should find out tomorrow) and if they can offer me a suitable ground floor room, we shall tag it onto the start of our planned trip to Northumberland to see the Tall Ships.  (We still have our trip to Inverness before then!)  Well done with the poem!  Sorry GDaughter and Ms D were not able to join you for 4th July; I hope you and Daughter are having a wonderful time.

    Heather – good to see posts from you.  You really could have some fun with that medical questionnaire!

    Chrisy – Hedgehog is still leaving evidence, but haven’t heard any more noisy interaction.

    AQ- congratulations on the shopping expedition!  You are doing well!

    Diane – sorry you are so stressfully busy – don’t forget to eat and sleep – and drink plenty if it is still hot!

    Mike – drones certainly have their place in surveying and exploration, and save a lot of time tramping around; I just wish more of them were used responsibly.  Good to see Insh Marshes from the air!

    Keith – we also have a lot of Starling noise, whether the weather be wet or dry, they seem to carry on.  House Martins definitely seem to be back in business; not sure whether any chicks this late would survive migration.

    Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!

  • Keith: I thought your bro's funeral was a week or so ago (or maybe that was another service - or maybe I'm completely confused).  Good that "teamwork" was so successful; these kinds of issues can create all kinds of miscommunication.

    OG: Oh that would be great if you could organize the training session ahead of your Tall Ship trip. I know Windemere; it's lovely and even lovelier in the sunshine. Did you and EE make a new year's resolution to make lots of small trips this year? It certainly seems like you're always coming or going. :-)

    Spent the morning checking the irrigation drips - they are so contrary!  Anyway, all sorted for about a minute...

  • Annette – surprisingly, our resolution this year was to do less trips!  I think we were away overnight about 10 times last year, but many were quite short and this year they are longer – we had our few days near the Kelpies in April, our recent trip to Belvoir, then we have Inverness followed by Northumberland, both in August.  Maybe I have been boringly mentioning them all too often!

    Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!