Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 26 May 2019

HAPPY NEW WEEK! I hope everyone has a wonderful week! I’m taking a short break from work to say hello to you all and tell you about my new friend.

Every summer, I seem to have one animal who chooses to stay close to my house and keep me company. Last year, it was the little yearling white-tailed deer. This year, it’s an enormous groundhog! He’s made a burrow underneath the fallen apple tree next to my bedroom window, and he’s been spending his days puttering around my front porch, eating the weeds that I’ve allowed to grow.

He’s a formidable critter. A couple of decades ago, we had a huge groundhog on this land. My Mom named him “Bear,” because he was nearly as large as a bear cub. The current resident groundhog must be Bear’s descendent, because he’s a big fella! He has immense teeth (I think he’s fairly old) and long, thick claws. Despite his scary appearance, he’s been friendly to me. Groundhogs generally avoid people and can be hostile to humans if they feel crowded or cornered, but Bear II makes no effort to leave when I go outdoors. When I talk to him, he tilts his head like a dog and stares at me with interest. LOL He makes me laugh, waddling around the yard.

I didn’t try to photograph him, because I read that mobile phones and other devices emit electromagnetic fields that some animals, including groundhogs, can hear (or feel?). He looks like the one in this photo, though.

Groundhog, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia
NPS photo labeled “Public domain” (copyright free)

  • Hello everyone! Thank you DIANE. I'm happy about your newest companion, even though I would be nervous!
    I can't add to what others have said about the dreadful weather and it's consequences for the crops and the farmers and also all the home owners.

    OG - I hope that your legs are better ( or as better as they can be) and that you enjoy your outing tonight.
    Middle daughter and I had lunch here, she has been off work this week due to plantar fasciitis. She got a taxi and then Callum came to collect her later in the afternoon.

    ANNETTE - agree, weird weather systems. I read again today about the grey whales, more dead and theories regarding this.

    LINDY- your OH is a star! I suspect that he prefers to keep busy, a proper farmer....

    A quiet day here, I'm just pottering about. Heavy heavy rain through the night, house was cold so heating came on.
  • Morning all:  

    Lindybird: I think I need to rent your OH. We have several projects here and my OH seems to have retired from the Fix-It department.   Wow - and that $11,000 is just the royalty fee, which is included in the $45,000 cost (for a Western agency) and the $20-40,000 cost for a Nepalese agency.  Just saw a headline that said the only thing harder than climbing Everest was raising the money to do it!   I can think of lots of things I'd rather do with $45,000 than stand in a line in a very cold and dangerous place.

    AQ: You're wearing a long skirt and heavy sweater because you were sitting at the computer too long?   Because it's so cold in the computer room?   (Sorry. It's early and my brain is working on all cylinders yet.)   There are Eastern states in OZ??  :-))

    OG: It was me who asked about George.  Thanks for the feedback.  Please say Hi to him.  Enjoy the concert tonight.

    Made the mistake of weighing myself for the first time in ages. Need I say more....

  • Annette - I haven't weighed myself for ages. All I can say is that clothes I wore before my cruise are now actually LOOSER than they were before I went! OK - the food was not brilliant, at least towards the end, but I also did a lot of exercise walking around the decks and trying not to use the lifts. I also walked miles when we were ashore, eschewing most of the excursions on the grounds I didn't want to waste many hours sitting in a coach!
  • ForestBoar -- You must be wanting to get on with life, without these health hassles. I've got my fingers crossed for you.
  • I did my boring ironing, watching things I'd recorded on the tv. The cushion covers I washed this week came up well.

    My OH will do anything for anybody. He's generous with his time. It's true, Heather, that once you've been a busy person it's hard to stop doing things. He still rises quite early each day as he always has. He does take time off most days, though, to do soduku and crossword puzzles, and he's reading a book a week. In between everything, he fits in two long mornings of golf.
  • Diane - it looks like your area is going through the mill with all the bad weather you are getting. Do stay safe and hope your little ol' house won't get flooded. It must be awful for the farmers.

    Its been trying to rain all day down here but nowhere near as much as your getting in the Mid West.

    Spent the best part of the day at a Cocktail bar in town - our dau-in-law's 60th birthday bash. Met up with people I'd not seen for ages. Quite a pleasant do except for the loud music which OH and I can't tolerate these days. Had a taxi there and back to save our dau driving, so she could have a drink. Going the fare was reasonable but they tried to charge us more for the return journey which we objected to as the journey was exactly the same going as coming back. Paid what we paid for going in the end.

    Whatever you are all doing tomorrow have a lovely day
  • ANNETTE – Sorry I was too cryptic. My computer room is an ex-bedroom facing south (coldest down here); also our heating is the other end of house. It can get quite chilly and my “mouse hand” is quite freezy at times. It does encourage me not to sit too long! As for eastern states, NSW & VIC think they are Aussieland. Much rivalry between those two as well.

  • At long last some pics from my a-while-ago bus trip. We left city, up Northern Expressway, edged past Barossa, coffee stop at Truro. Onwards, out of hills down to Murray Flats.

    This land is in rain shadow, hence poor vegetation, saltbush & mallee trees.

    Short stop in Blanchetown to stretch legs. Across the Murray River were pelicans & cormorants sunning on a boat ramp.

    2 pelicans & 2 cormorants on the river.

    to be continued