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!
OG Re Autumnwatch, we have it recorded but haven't watched it yet/ I'd often like to shake Chris Packham too!
Morning all,
Thanks for all the latest chat and pics and links:
OG/Patriciat: I have to agree with both of you re Chris Packham. He is an obnoxious know it all at times and that science geek thing is infantile.
Tiger : Thanks for the news of Lily and Hope. Looking forward to the den cam if they have one this year.
Alicat : I seem to remember that last year they had some doubts about it being Phoebe on the last nest. Anyway it is still worth watching whether it is Phoebe or not.
We have had overnight rain but dry at the moment and a bit cloudy. Not a lot planned for today so I expect I will be watching some football and taking Hamish for a walk later.
Emma Peel : Thanks for the link to the pic of the Tay Rail Bridge. It reminded me of the Mcgonagall poem:
http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk/poems/pgbridge.htm
Hi Everyone: I'm still here, but not for long! (thanks for all your good wishes for my hols, will try to enjoy myself ;-0
Belated Happy Birthday to Alan, sorry I seem to have missed it as I was only on here for a couple of minutes yesterday. What a lovely pic of Phoebe (or is it indeed Phoebe!)
Went dashing out this morning, to post letters & etc. and ended up in the Supermarket car park looking silly as I had forgotten to take my handbag! - Had to trail all the way back home and retreive it, then go back & fight for a space in the car park again (always busy on a Saturday). Thoughts must have been elsewhere.
Will sign off now for a bit, you must all take care of yourselves and I will look forward to reading all about you & your doings when I return... bye.
ps: Liked the McGonagall poem, Alan!!!
The London Metro seems to like ospreys. Here they publish a picture of an osprey catching a fish and spooking a duck at the same time. See osprey spooks duck.
Of course back in april the Metro sparked interest with this picture. I wonder if people remember why?
In the Daily Mail the same day. See grab something for lunch.
Tiger Signature
Alan The McGonagall poem is wonderful. Did you see/hear it 'performed' by Billy Connolly on Dundee Law in a blizzard? - an absolute classic.
Emma Peel Grass is coming along as well as can be expected in view of the dramatic drop in temperature here. No need to water today as we're getting more than enough in rainfall! Ugh. Just back from agility training with Tweed. Our Winter League starts in 4 weeks so we need to do all the training we can. Dog's brilliant but the handler is a different matter!
Hazel b said: Of course back in april the Metro sparked interest with this picture. I wonder if people remember why?
Remember it well, Tiger, that was the one which led to false reports that orange VS was back, until it was admitted to being a two-year-old picture!
Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!
OG You are really good at these! :)
Great shot of the osprey and duck Tiger.
Yes I remember that picture of OVS very well. Wrong year and wrong place. It won't have been Loch Garten either.
ChloeB & Tiger's Osprey Data