WEEKLY CHAT (non-osprey) SUNDAY, AUGUST 21, 2016

Evening all;  now popping back to catch up on all your news.

MaryGK: Alaska ferries are definitely for folks who are happy to rough it, sort of.  I wouldn't mind it if I knew I had a comfy hotel near the dock.

BrendaH: Good luck looking for the jacket to go with that dress.   Thanks for news of Margo and OH's doings - great to know they're enjoying themselves.

Heather: Don't think my OH would worry about my disposing of kitchen stuff; on the other hand the garage (which he also doesn't frequent) might be harder to clean out.    Chocolate teapot?  :-))    Cornish pasties - yum yum.

Rosy: Daughter has always had a menagerie (pigs, goats, peacock, horses, dogs, etc.) now it's horses, ducks, dog and floppy-eared bunny.  I just have her ancient cat which caught one bird yesterday and two today!  Pesky puss.  :-(

Hi to everyone else.

  • Morning all:

    Diane: I would not like to see that shelf cloud coming my way at all - what a monster - and a reminder that we are all so puny in the face of nature.  What effect I wonder would a tornado have on one of those high-rise buildings? Blow out the windows - or worse?  Can't imagine sheltering behind a mattress or in a bathtub with that looming overhead.

    PatO: Was looking at the Croft Castle website (a very brief history) and see that Herbert Croft's son was created a Baronet (in 1671) and "the title lives on to this day in Australia"???  Interesting tidbit that...   A lovely place from the photos I Googled.  Was also reading about Lancelot "Capability" Brown (including how he got his nickname) on Wikipedia and he was really raking it in back in the 1760s - making the equivalent of almost 1 million dollars p.a. in 2015 dollars!  Didn't realize he was the master gardener at Hampton Court.   But if I had to choose, I'd live at Brockhampton Estate - what a gorgeous place!  You must've been wiped out after that day out.

    Heather: Oh dear, so sorry about unpleasant phone call with brother, but it does seem like they're determined to keep digging that hole.  :-(  It must be so distressing for you.

    Lindybird: Do hope cuts to NHS can be derailed - the last thing you want is a for-profit health system (as Diane and her brother can attest to!).

    Temps here are a good 10 degrees below normal. Gray overcast mornings and sunny but still cool afternoons. A bit like May...   Off to buy a new birdfeeder today. Got the ancient and grotty one down yesterday to clean and managed to break three of the little perches (plastic, they dried out I'm assuming - at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it) and another piece that I can't figure out how to secure once more.  Birds are all having a fit in the meantime.

    Take care everyone.  Happy to start the thread later if Diane is dodging tornadoes...