Hi everyone: And a good Sunday and rest of the week to you all. Don't forget to check the last posts of last week's chat for clever moving graphics from Tiger and Alicat (and maybe some others), pix of OG's friends' garden, late updates on one thing or t'other - and pix of my trip north! :-)
Weather these last few days are more like a not-very-nice English summer day. Unbroken gray skies, low clouds, and a constant soft drizzle. All very odd. On telly they were saying we had a couple of days of summer and now it's back to May Gray and June Gloom. Although tomorrow through Tuesday they're forecasting rain and possibly thunderstorms! A good day for doing inside stuff - like researching a new laptop. Spent ages reading about replacing the LED bulb in my laptop and it does sound a tad daunting: The Dell forum folks gave a link to a video, but you apparently - according to several folks who know - have to be "very, very careful." I didn't mind that but was especially put off by the news that the LED bulb (long and slender) was made of a very brittle glass that likely had lead in it, not to mention mercury. Also, do not have the tiny soldering iron or the special tape. Sounds like one of Alan's "Destroy It Yourself" projects! :-)
OG: Poor son with bad toe - definitely not a good time to develop problems - but ugh! - what a nightmare to find his new apartment so trashy. Just awful. So good of your OH to go up and check out the appliances, etc. Don't you hate it when "our" kids run up against this kind of stuff!
patriciat: I suspect there's more than one Mission San Miguel - wonder which one Lonnie Donegan (and U.S. artists) were thinking of. There is an old pueblo next to the mission I visited, which oddly has a Scottish name - The Rios Caledonia Adobe. According to the history page: In 1846 William Reed, Miguel Garcia, and Petronilo Rios bought the San Miguel rancho from Pio Pico, Governor of the Mexican Nation. Rios and his wife, Catarina Avila, had twelve children and moved into the adobe in 1851. In 1862 German-born Warren C. Rickard purchased the property from the state of California on a possession claim. In 1868 George Butchard named the adobe the Caledonia, a Scottish word meaning Scotland. He operated a stagecoach stop, tavern, and inn. According to local legend, Jesse James and the Dalton Brothers visited the inn.
Enjoyed reading all the posts; back tomorrow. Take care dear friends!
Sorry I have not yet replied to anyone today, will try to catch up now, but it has been a very busy night and day on here!
Tiger – I have some doubts about that longest cat – no pictures of it standing on the floor – I wonder if it’s back is actually too weak to support it’s own length?
Chloe and others – so pleased you agree with Water Vole ID!
AQ – more lovely pictures. Lovely “green velvet” hills – I always describe the Howgills in Westmoreland (modern Cumbria) as having the texture of well-loved teddy bears, so I know exactly what you mean! Do Galahs usually go around in flocks - I’d always imagined they were quite solitary? Is Port Augusta on the coast, or is that a very wide river? So pleased there is more to come. Good to here of the departure of pampered Puss!
Annette – I hope you enjoyed your lunch at Stella Mares – do you get to see any of the birds at the reserve while you are there?
Diane – haven’t heard from Son today, so I guess that means all is well! Thanks for various links.
Auntie – good to hear from you again – all that studying obviously paid off, so well done passing the tests.
Lindy – never heard that reason for polishing the door before – but I know what you mean about what the neighbours might notice! If you are packing your briefer shorts (or any shorts at all) you must be slimmer than several of us! Good that you and friend could go out to cheer her up a bit. Mmmm – Brussels Sprouts – love them. We don’t attempt brassicas in our small raised beds.
Alan – beautiful plant – well done.
So pleased Heather has promised she will return – wonder if she will resist looking in tomorrow?!!
Sheila – welcome back from lurking! Sad it was yet another bereavement here which led you to post – but that’s all part of this caring group - “together through thick and thin”. Seem to remember that in a film where French girl pronounced it “sick and sin” – was it “Lace”?
Joan – it was a cold wind here today, but it never did go dreich – and there was bright sun at times. Lovely photos from Whitley Bay.
George – I hope your son will be safe with the replacement doors! I see it is actually a Zoo licence being sought by the Alladale Estate – but this time only for Elk, European Bison and Wildcat – far from the re-wilding he was aiming for! Enjoyed the pics from Elie – hope to look at that part of the coast end of this month.
Margo – so sorry that your time with friend has been curtailed – good wishes for her OH. Sad about your OH’s young friend too – he will be so glad he went up to see him when he did. Enjoy the Meerkats during the remainder of your stay. So pleased you have managed to spot Phoebe!
Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!
Hi Lindybird,hope you have a great holiday
Also phoebe is now building a nest
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Heather - Glad to see you are still lurking. Linda - Have a great holiday. Auntie - Congratulations on passing your test. OG, Joan & George - Great pics. Alan - No problem re Melrose. I wish I had thought to photo the main street - it’s a great contrast to Scotland's. Margo - Wow, meerkats. OG - Port Augusta is at the "top" of Spencers Gulf, so that pic was probably part of the sea. Oh yes galahs flock. They lived (probably still do!) in gum trees on one particular part of my father’s farm. When I hear them I always think of that spot. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galah
Thanks Sheila, I’ve learnt something new. I knew the first camel arrived in SA in 1840 but I didn’t realize it came from the Canaries. That camel ties in with my recent trip. We travelled through Horrocks Pass which was discovered by John Ainsworth Horrocks, one of the first settlers in the Clare Valley. He went on an exploring trip with the artist S T Gill, an aboriginal goatherd, 3 other men, the camel, two carts, six horses and twelve goats. North of Port Augusta, Horrocks was accidentally shot. His gun went off when his camel lurched as he was about to shoot a bird. He was returned to his home at Penwortham (it must have been a painful journey) where he died a month later, aged 28. The camel had already attacked humans & goats and Horrocks ordered it destroyed.
Continuing weekend trip. Sunday morn we visited the Port Augusta Arid Lands Garden. So much to see but we only had an hour. http://www.australian-aridlands-botanic-garden.org/. On drive in there was this patch of Sturt’s desert pea (Swainsona formosa), SA’s state emblem.
Next are 2 general views of the gardens.
This one of the shrubs, sorry I don’t know its name. 2nd pic is a close-up of same.
more to come !!!!
I'm probably the only person in the world who thinks that this is sooo cool, but you fellow astronomy fans might want to take a look. http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl This is an excellent quality streaming webcam focused on the "clean room" at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. You can watch the people in the white suits actually building the next Mars Rover. Seriously. Is that cool or what?
Edit: On the link above, scroll down the page, and sign up to have your name go to Mars. That's right!!! NASA is going to attach a microchip to the new Mars Rover. The chip will include the names of everyone who participates. I signed up, and I even got a nice certificate with my own NASA number!!!
Everyone have a great Friday and Happy Full Moon!
Me again. I'm not doing much work today!!!Squawk. Squawk. Squawk. What a horrible noise. Out on front lawn is a very insistent junior magpie with his broken-beaked parent. So the pile of feathers must have been the other parent. I grab camera and some breadcrumbs and snapped these. Parent kept rushing back and forth stuffing the noisy one’s gaping beak.
Quick, fetch more!
Evening all: Nice lunch in the conservatory (a former greenhouse now converted to very airy section of restaurant) at Stella Mares. I had spinach and mushroom quiche (very light and fluffy) and green salad. We both managed to ignore the dessert menu. Then went to Best Buy with OH to check out laptops but Dell direct is still the best deal. Now I'm wondering if I shouldn't just have this one fixed and save at least $500! Stay tuned. While at Costco, ran into one of my fellow Gray Whale Count volunteers and we were saying that just another two or three months and we'll be back out at Coal Point with our binocs. Hurray!
Margobird: Oh dear - what a shame about your friend's OH. But good for you staying on! Sounds like there's a lot to see and do - but oh my! Meerkats have underfloor heating? Maybe you can move into their accommodations? Geez, your OH's friend was awfully young; how sad. Was he married with kiddies? Do take care and enjoy yourself with all the critters. On Phoebe's site there's a note saying they expect the nest (in the middle of the rose bush) to be completed October 25-27. If anyone's missed/lost the link, here it is http://www.ustream.tv/hummingbirdnestcam
OG: It's really a shame that critters spread disease and take over the neighborhood when they move in (a bit like humans!) :-) We saw some fat gray squirrels up in the Sierras; my granddaughter said they were so much prettier than the skinny desert ones. I too was wondering about that looonnnng cat, but if the Guinness Book of Records has okayed it, I guess someone must've measured it? Did not see any birds at the preserve (didn't spend a lot of time looking I must confess!).
AQ: Sturt's desert pea looks a tad - um - scary in close up. Love that last pix of the harried magpie parent rushing off for more crumbs.
Diane: Just watched Nat Geo's program on the Hubble Telescope - love that stuff. JPL in Pasadena has an open house each year - I went to it once and it was Fascinating!!
PBS's "Mystery" series has moved from Sunday to Thursday nights: Tonight it's Wallander - yeah!
Annette: I just watched the Nat Geo Hubble Telescope program, too. Wonderful! You're so lucky; I would love to tour JPL -- or any other NASA facility. Glad you had a nice lunch at Stella Mares. I've always gotten my computers from Dell Direct. I would think that they will be slashing prices for the Christmas season, but I don't know. You mentioned whales and reminded me; you might like this site. I haven't had much luck with it but others have (maybe I'm doing something wrong?). You can choose an ocean observatory and play streaming deep sea audio of all kinds of natural (whales, dolphins, etc.) and human-generated sounds. The organization is trying to create a large network of sea-floor observatories to monitor earthquakes, tsunamis, marine animal populations, migrations, and so on. http://listentothedeep.net/acoustics/index.html
AQ: Loved the magpies and the trip photos! Alan: Terrific Brugmansia photo. My hummingbirds would love those, I think. Sheila: Nice to hear from you! The poem was lovely. Joan: Your photos were really lovely! My Dad enjoyed them, too. We're both crazy about lighthouses and other sea structures. Thanks for posting them. He asked to see them twice. George g: We also loved your photos. Beautiful! Margo: Watching the meerkats must be great fun. Sorry about your friend's OH.
OG: Wonderful photo of you!!! Lovely squirrel pics, too. I didn't know that the mink had impacted the water vole population there. Sorry about my insensitive remark that my owl would eat that vole. :-( I know exactly what you mean about non-native species. Once again, we have to get our furnace worked on because the Asian Lady Beetles have gotten in from the outside and clogged a pipe. It happens nearly every spring and fall when they swarm. I love all the Earth's creatures, but those beetles are NOT my favorite.
Everyone have a good Friday! Today is the full Hunter's Moon, Blood Moon, etc.
Did notice that there was a huge moon last night!
Morning Everyone. Thanks to All for the great photos and the interesting posts - no time for me to reply individually, sorry.
Was sorry to hear that your OH lost his friend, margo and that your holiday has been somewhat disrupted - glad you have stayed on and are still enjoying yourself. Send us some pics when you get home.
Am packing now and wondering how many books to take away with me - one I am looking forward to reading is one that my OH bought me for my birthday, "Return of the Osprey" by David Gessner. Also have "Made in America" by Bill Bryson, and some Joanna Trollope novels.
Read my edition of 'Birds' magazine this morning while eating my breakfast, and there is a letter in there from someone who volunteered for Loch Garten and so enjoyed herself. Yay!
Must go - have a good day, everyone.
Good Morning All. Another cold morning but not the heavy frost of yesterday.
Daughter's flat move went very well yesterday but we are still shattered this morning. We were able to unpack everything, but I am sure she will spend the next few weeks reorganising it all again. Very efficient removal team.
Just a quick visit to say, Margo, so sorry about your friends OH and all the worry and changes to your holiday. Also very sorry about your Husband's young friend. I am sure your husband must be pleased that he was able to visit him.
Linda, Have a brilliant holiday and relax after your recent hectic life.
We are having the gas boiler seviced this morning, so I hope he turns up on time. I hope to ' look in' later today.