Weekly Chat, Sunday, October 17, 2010

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  • Evening all.  Have been busy logging entries for our dog agility Winter League.  I've been doing the paperwork since the league started about 11 years ago so know what I'm doing but it still takes up a fair bit of time.

    Annette Great that you had such a good 'girls' trip with your daughter and g'daughter - she's a very good-looking young lady.  Thanks for all the info and pics of your trip.

    OG Lovely to 'see' you - I'd certainly have recognised you if we'd managed to meet.  Thanks for your super pics of your trip.  Lovely scenery, interesting buildings and my OH would be very envious of your visit to the steam event (assume that's your OH in one of the pics.)

    DjoanS Strand Presbyterian Church is still going strong, celebrated its centenary in 2003/04, so your grandfather must have been one of the earliest ministers.  Interesting to find how many bloggers have roots in Ireland, north or south.

    Yesterday's road closure was of one of the main arteries out of Belfast to the east.  When I was going to church the traffic on the alternative route was heavier than usual but not a problem.  Coming home was very different - massive traffic jams, people trying to move from lane to lane to get an advantage - the usual thing.  My journey took twice as long as it should have aand I almost had steam coming from my ears!

  • Hi folks, still around.

    DjoanS - with MWSnap- I go to" view" then scroll down and put in JPEG format not "all formats, then return to snap and put it on "any rect area" and then go to snap and you have to move the mouse over the area you want to snap , but don't forget to save immediately.

    Lindybird - love the Monday smile as usual.   Where are you going for your hols - you probably said in an earlier post but I have misssed it most likely.

    Margobird - hope you are enjoying your stay at the Farm.

    Thanks Diane in Indiana for the link and also Annette in So Cal.

    You all have posted interesting snippits of news and are greatly appreciated even if I don't answer them all.

  • Alan - glad to see the Scottish conker championships are going ahead - all is not lost.

    George g - Hope your son enjoys the rest of his rearranged holiday and that after his accident he is feeling a lot better. Never had Chicken Maryland but it sounds delicious.

  • OG - love the pics and especially the one of the old steam engine "Tornado" - my brother would love it, he is crazy about the steam era.   I remember as a young girl, we use to ride our bike down to  Golborn -East Lancashire Road towards Liverpool, to watch the trains going by.  Also remember biking over to Trafford Park to the engine sheds there one time.  Of course we had a railway line just over the road from where I lived and everytime my Uncle came down on business from Scotland we use to go to the line and wait for his train to pass.  He would be waving a white handkerchief and throw out a small parcel of sweets for us - it was great fun.

  • Hi, all. I was deeply saddened to read in our local small-town paper that a wild bobcat was struck and killed by a vehicle in my area. She was hit along a roadway while she was feeding on a deer carcass. Bobcats were once common in Indiana but now they are endangered and very rare. They are very beautiful and have an eerie scream that echoes through the forest. Here's the article, which includes a lot of information about the wild cats. http://www.thepaper24-7.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=28352&SectionID=23&SubSectionID=22&S=1

    This is what they look like (these are public domain photos so are okay to post).

     

     

  • Heather B: Your post was very interesting. I'm glad that your son-in-law is settling in and sleeping better --and that he now has 5 weeks leave.     Margo: Very sorry, I don't use MW Snap. I take captures the old-fashioned way (save them in Paint and then crop/fix them in my photo editing program).     Gary: Glad that you are enjoying the time with your visitors.     George G: Glad that your son is okay and you're enjoying your visit.     Terry M: Loved that 'shroom!!!

    Lindy: I enjoyed the Monday smiles. Don't work too hard on your house. Congrats on losing weight -- not an easy thing to do. In case I forget, have a wonderful holiday!!!

    Annette: I'm still using XP, so I don't know, but I've not heard good things about Vista. The geek consensus seemed to be that the system had a lot of flaws. If I were buying a new computer, I'd move on to the newer Windows 7. I don't have any experience with either one, though, so don't take my word for it. I was going to buy a new laptop but decided to spend the time and $$$ on the house, although I'd rather play with a new computer. :-( Glad you all kept the mountain lion fur!!!

    AQ: Welcome back!!! Always miss you when you're away. In answer to your question, nope my shoes are not muddy in the mornings. However, when I woke up this morning, my left eye was and still is really swollen. Looked like I'd been punched. In my dream wanderings, I must have mouthed off at the wrong person. LOL LOL Hope your husband got along well with Jasper.

    OG: My Dad and I both enjoyed the photos from the steam event. I grew up along the railroad tracks (the wrong side!), and I love trains. I appreciated that photo of Revolution House. If I ever hit the lottery, I'm going to build myself one of those beautiful cottages in that old style. That was quite a saga with the building of your daughter's wall! Three sides of my property are beautiful woods, but on the north side you can see the highway and a terrible old pub. I wish I could put that wall across that side of my land. Thanks for the info on the moorhen/gallinule. I didn't realize that a moorhen was the same bird as a gallinule. In the U.S., we have Common Gallinules and Purple Gallinules. The purple ones look like below. This is a public domain photo. I have my own photos of gallinules in Florida, but they were taken with film and I don't have a scanner right now.

    Everyone have a good week!

  • Morning all. I presume that some of you must be fans of Pale Male and Lola the world famous red tailed hawks who live at 927 Fifth Avenue, Central Park New York. In December 2004 the hawks were evicted. However there was such a wave of protest from around the world that the nest was replaced. Sadly the eggs have never hatched since.

    There is an article in Vanity Fair in July 2005 about the eviction. I had thought it had gone but this morning I have found that it is still online. Anyone who has not read it can enjoy it now.   Read and enjoy at   Ruffled Feathers on Fifth Avenue.

    Of course Lincon Karim continues to photograph Pale Male and Lola each day and posts his pictures at www.palemale.com 

    I have started a thread for Pale Male and Lola over at wildlife on the web.

  • Annette and Diane. I loved the foray into wild west history. Jesse James was a well known name where I grew up. I also know the name John Dillinger. I guess it was the influence of my father that brought these names into our house. As I said before my father spent the years from 1923 to 1930 in Detroit.

    OG Thanks for the picture.  Also great set of bird pictures.

    Chesterfield is where Tony Benn became MP after he lost his Bristol seat.

    Your steam engine pictures are just great.

    Alicat  Since you mention drinking I will take it as a excuse to say that I tried a new liquer yesterday. It is called Kahlua.  It is rather good.

    TerryM  So there was no 'shroom tea then?   :) :)

    Brenda H   This junk that Google Earth leaves. Is it in the form of temporary files?

    BTW the black bears are all going into their dens just now. I have not followed that before. It just shows what Lily and Hope have done for bearkind.

    Hello to everyone else too. Must say this group has a lovely cohesion to it just now.

     

  • Fauna report. Our usual division of labour is that I feed Jasper and OH deals with the other end. We both play with the poor neglected puss, tho’ OH does yell more than I when J misbehaves. Jasper got on very well without me over the weekend. But it was strange when OH went out yesterday, Jasper got quite upset and naughty. He climbed on top of my radio/CD player sending photos, & other bits & pieces flying. I did yell . . . and threw him on the floor. I replaced most but wonder what fell down behind, not to be reached?

    Starling cheeps are coming from the garage. The blackbirds may have hatched too. I supervised J’s 2 outside trips today. All he wants is to chase birds. The blackbirds are calling frantically - if they would only keep quiet, J may forget them. I keep heading J off from dangerous places. I was dashing around the other side of the crab apple to save what I thought were birds on the ground. And nearly stepped on Lizarda da Vinci escaping from the garden and heading for a pile of old pots and junk. So she is still with us.

    In the front garden the magpies are still coming to be fed, although nervous of the furry thing staring through the window. One of the magpies with a broken beak has a baby. Well, it did. Baby has not been seen for a few days and a pile of maggie feathers is out front. The culprit is probably the fat slob of a cat from across the road.

    Weekend report. Our tour took us through Mallala, on to Balaklava for the morning coffee stop and wander. Then on to Blyth where the old Lutheran church is now an art gallery. The artist mainly paints birds. Paintings, cards, bookmarks. These are some brochures to show you his work.

     

    We passed paddocks of wheat, barley, canola (rapeseed), peas and (next pic) fava beans. These are new to me. Apparently like broad beans but smaller. Used for stock feed, tho’ people eat them in Europe, I’m told.

     

    The next 2 pics were taken through the bus window north of Brinkworth. Hence the murky pics. Although it rained lightly for most of the morning, it was fine whenever we stopped.

     

     

     We drove through Yacka and Georgetown. This is the silent cop in Gladstone. (A mini roundabout.)

     To be continued

  • I see we are back. RSPB seems to have been down for some time.

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