WEEKLY CHAT (non-osprey) SUNDAY, AUGUST 5 2018

Hope everyone has a good week.

  • OG: Sounds like you might expect more postcards. Love the expression "unencumbered aunties!"  :-))

    Rosy: Oh that remodeling job sounds awful.  Let's hope they get it done ahead of schedule.

    Hope everyone has a good Sunday

  • Thanks to Annette for starting us off again. Good Morning, Everyone.


    Dry here, and dew on the windows. The weather really is most unusual. Yesterday, I thought I'd read the newspaper in the garden after lunch, but I went to sleep reading it, and awoke to find that my OH was out with the dog, having left me to doze! But I still slept last night in spite of having had a couple of hours extra.

    Rosy, it's a shame about the baby hedgehog but as you say it does mean there are some around: I've not seen one for years here, but then, we had to make our garden dog proof, so they can't get in. My OH did find a new badger sett in the fields behind us yesterday, we have always known we have some but they keep away from us humans!

  • Good morning, ANNETTE.  Thank you for starting the thread. Not sure whether Daughter will send more postcards or whether she did it early to get it out of the way!  I think they have gone for roughly two weeks.

    ROSY - sorry you have more noise and dust to come, and more hot dry weather to endure with it.  The temperature here is much more tolerable now, but today is still dry.

    LINDA - OH said there is dew on the grass here, but definitely no rain.  Good to know you have badgers locally - we do too, but the most frequent evidence is sadly roadkill.

    Had a young Starling injured earlier - they piled down in such a kerfuffle and commotion this morning when OH fed them that I think it must have been at the bottom of the heap and fell off the feeder; it definitely hurt a leg, and was unsure of its wings for a while, but did eventually flutter away.

    Off to do nothing-in-particular - should probably be making card for Granddaughter's 25th birthday which is soon after they come back from Germany.

    Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!

  • A good afternoon from a long time lurker I have seem to have had a long time in getting things in order in my life. After my meeting with OG I seem to have fallen into a mood when I have been on a reflection path thinking about the good and bad times I had when my wife was living and it has taken me a while to come to terms with my life as it is now. Lucky am now in a better place.

    Next door had an elderflower tree in a corner of his garden which grew from a seed deposited by a bird years ago and only recently we realised that it was leaning on the fence and if left it would probably have knocked the fence down so we have been chopping it down and getting rid of it. quite a job.

    Hope every one is getting on with their life and I hope not to stay away so long in future.

    george g

  • Shame about the hedgehog and the injured starling. Benson now would appear to have a bad back. Since he came home he has been jumping on our chairs and settee. This is probably something he learned while we were away and he was staying with a pet sitter. We let him get away with it and now reckon he has strained his back. Furniture is now barricaded when we are not around so hopefully he will get out of this habit and after a few days of metacalm the strain will heal.

  • Thank you, ANNETTE!

    Yes, OG, I'm tired and a bit concerned about one or two things but nothing too serious.

    Weather here much cooler, thank goodness. I'm catching up with washing and sticky fingers stuff but all under control!

    I'm up to date with everyones news and all being well, will get myself organised to chat soon.

    Meantime, best regards to all -

  • George: Always good to see you and sorry you've been through one of those bumpy times. You're always welcome here, no matter how Up or Down you feel.  I like to hear about your activities, especially which relatives you've been taking out and about - so kind of you

    Heather: Sounds like family concerns - do they ever end? :-(  Are you still hosting the brood or have I lost the plot (again!)?

    dibnlib: Hope the "cure" works for Benson.

    OG: We had what looked like a bird with birth defects around here - I'm pretty suree I saw it last year too.  It seems to have a growth on the front of its head (like a horn) and now has some problem with its back/wing (maybe caught by a cat or something).  Anyway, it was hopping under the fountain looking (I thought) wistfully up at it. Then I saw it again on the path and it let me come up close enough that I could place a light tea towel over it.  Got it in the "rescue shoe box" that we have for these kinds of situations, but then it suddenly fluttered out and rushed off behind the bushes.  I'm sure the rescue folks will put it down if I take it in and I'm not sure whether to keep trying to catch it or let it get along as it has been....  

    Lindybird: A Sunday snooze in the garden is on my to-do list for today.

    Off to tackle the out-of control bushes along the back of our path behind the house (before the nap)/

  • I think OH was mistaken when he thought young bird flew – I have seen it at least twice crawl out of the undergrowth to feed – so vulnerable if Ginger Tom from over the road comes calling!

    George – lovely to see a post from you, but sorry you have been having a bad time.  I hope it wasn’t anything I said which triggered your sadness and reflective mood.  Pleased you have come through it now.  Good that you and the neighbour could get together over the elder tree, but I hope you didn’t do too much, tackling it yourselves.

    Dibnlib – sorry that Benson learned some bad habits while you away, and consequently hurt his back.  I hope he will soon be feeling better and relearn his earlier training.

    Heather – sorry that you have concerns which are bothering you.  I hope you will soon be back to chatting.

    Annette – our wildlife rescue is at the agricultural college, but not manned anything like full time, so couldn’t do anything with young bird – I know what my Dad would have done to end its suffering, but I can’t handle that kind of thing.  I hope the garden snooze works out well for you!  I didn’t sit out today – just took a short perambulation while OH was painting the shed repair and re-fitting its gutter – which he says he has done in a better-looking way than before.   I don’t often go to that part of the garden as the steps that way seem to have one with more height than all the others and it is uncomfortable.  He is now mowing the back lawn before doing a little watering.

    J is busy with his ironing, so I am going to get on with a few email replies, much overdue!

    Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!

  • Thanks Annette for another week.

    Diane - How wonderful to see wild turkeys on your patch. The pics brought back memories of my mother who grew turkeys on our farm. Whenever we came home to visit, there would be roast turkey. To my shame I once whined, “Not turkey again, why can’t we have corned beef.” My poor mother.

    Saturday was sunny, out I went to weed, alas, the jonquils are flowering. Result headache since. It’s too early for spring symptoms, she cries. Today we have rain, hail & thunderstorm predicted. Methinks OH will stay close to heater & TV.

  • Hello. Lots of posts, last night: will reply later, but its nice to hear from George again.

    Misty here with fluffy clouds.