Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 2 December 2018

AQ:  Kids can be so funny!  And so opinionated!  How on earth did we manage before they all came along to explain everything to us.  :-)   I don't mind books that jump about in time as long as they give us a clue in, say, the chapter headings rather than Chapter 1, etc.....    I'll see how The Clockmaker's Daughter goes....  Ghastly about the Queensland fires....   Re the site, new posts now show up at the top of the thread, not at the bottom, or indented, as previously.   Some other adjustments could be pending, but no word when...

Good Morning.  Still dark here but my OH has taken Bonnie out prior to taking our neighbour to a Hospital appointment: he has been having dizzy spells and had a scan recently, so maybe this is to discuss the results. 

AQ, your littlies have me in stitches. Good for you to know that "you're not old enough yet" to be going! Sorry to hear about the dreadful fires. I don't mind books or films which leap around in time, as long as they don't do it too frequently. We haven't heard from the roofers yet, but thankfully it eventually stopped raining.

I can't see much improvement to the site.  It makes me grit my teeth......

Roofer rang me back and hopes to find the time to come and have a look, sometime today or tomorrow.

Pat, I'm getting excited for you, already! Have you started putting your clothes out ready to pack? It must be difficult to know what to take, for such a long trip.

I'm off out on a mission to get my favourite watch mended - fingers crossed!

Morning all:  Well Lindybird anyway.   Lovely gray wet morning here so I'm off out to pick up a few extra Xmas knickknacks.  This is very unusual for me and I think it's the weather that's putting me in a Christmas mood.  

Lindybird: Good of you to take neighbor to docs.  Good luck with the roofer and the watch repairs.  Can't remember the last time I wore one.....

Goodness!  - I suppose a lot of people use their mobile phone to tell them the time. I'm not exactly a clock watcher but always wear a watch when out and about:  I have two comfy "ordinary" ones and three posh dressed up ones.... it's the favourite posh one which objected to having the hour changed on it, so the little winder broke off. Today, the jeweller kindly said they would send it away and get me an estimate before doing any work on it. (I should say that years ago I had only one cheap watch and when it broke I had a job replacing it as no money for that. I swore that once I could afford it I would have at least two!)

I bought some grub in Sainsbugs and stopped to stock up on booze for the coming season. I had a list but ended up with only half of the items, it was difficult to see what I wanted as they have so much stock of everything! A man was refilling the shelves as others had obviously been stocking up too.

Also got some photos done ready to send, of ourselves and the grandchildren, to post to my cousin with her Christmas card. She is not on the Internet so we communicate by phone and mail.

Forgot to say, that my OH came back saying Mission Accomplished - he took our neighbour and his wife into Manchester for their appointment where they said not to worry, there is no sign of anything untoward in his head but the dizziness will always be with him, there is no cure but some physio may help. So he certainly won't be driving ever again. He is in his 80s and sort of resigned to it but as his wife doesn't drive it means they may have to use taxis and family to help them now.

Hi, folks. Just popped in to make sure you all know the following: "The site will be offline between midnight tonight (Thursday 6th December) and 10am tomorrow (Friday 7th December)," according to the tech folks HERE. They are moving the RSPB Community site from the United States, where it is currently hosted, to within the European Union. I don't blame them. If I were an organization in the U.K., I would not want my data stored in the United States. I just wanted to make sure that everyone knows about the downtime.

Hope you all are well. Winter Storm Diego hit here today and dumped some snow and ice, so I've been watching the blizzard. I need groceries and supplies, but I hate to drive on ice.

I was thinking about George today; I haven't seen him post for awhile. I just want to say that I hope you're well and happy, George.

AQ: Your grandchildren are hilarious. I'm sorry about all the fires. Stay safe, my friend. 

I haven't seen R.T. Hawk and his mate for days, and I'm wondering whether they decided to migrate this year, like the ducks did. Nearly all of the birds on my patch left this year, which does not bode well for the upcoming winter conditions. Some of the forecasters are predicting a severe winter, and the birds may have known.

Take care, all.

Hello all, not looked in for a while.   Hope all is OK with you all. Just skimmed through news from folks.  Not a lot happening here. OH has to go back to the fracture clinic on the 19th to check shoulder has healed.  He's driving again but just has to be aware of it.  Apart from getting over a cold I'm reasonable well.   Gearing up for Christmas - cakes are marzipaned, just have to ice them.  Mince pies to make in about 10 days time, most of the Christmas presents bought, just got to wrap em all up oh and of course write the cards. Hope you are all going to be enjoying Christmas with your families.

Didn't see Diane's warning last night so was puzzled by the Site being down this morning. However, were back again now.  Nice to hear from you, Lynette. Glad your OH is healing up.

Stay safe in the snow and ice, Diane!

We're still hoping to hear from the roofing man today. We had rain in the night so were worried, but it doesn't seem to have come in. My OH found two loose tiles when he looked up there, and moved them, so maybe that indicates the problem.

I agree that it's been a long time since we heard from George - do hope he's OK.

11.48 Further to Diane's IT update on the RSPB system, for which I thank you, I had no idea their server(s) is/are the US, let alone the plan to move it to the EU!!  There is a further up-date on the same thread from Elliott B, which says