Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 5 September 2021

HAPPY NEW WEEK and HAPPY NEW MOON!

The moon turns new on Monday, 6 September, or Tuesday, 7 September, depending on your location.

I hope everyone has a happy week full of joy and love!

(Happy Labor Day to Annette and bjane!)

  • CC:  Haha.  When we have a nice cool damp winter day here in California, I tell my OH, "It's like an English summer day!"  It was never that hot when I lived there - and certainly not as hot as most U.S. summers (UK types should correct me here coz I left in 1963 so things may have changed significantly).  The UK is a bit like Seattle weather wise, but then Seattle - where A/C isn't the norm either - had temps up in the 100s this year.  Horrors.  I often watch butterflies in flight and think it all seems rather haphazard; do hope yours survives. I know some conservation groups are tagging them...

    Lindybird:  OMG. Even bigger horrors.  A bird-eating spider.  How big is that?  Aaack!  Just Googled it:  Up to 4.5 inches with a leg span of almost 11 inches!!  Are you trying to give us nightmares?  :-))   I woke up about 5 the other morning, put on the light to see a plain old house spider negotiating its way around the lamp shade over the bed.  It disappeared for a moment and I was prepared to let it be, but then it popped out the other side.  I got up to get a broom to swish it away but before I even got out the bedroom door, it had dropped down onto the bed. Calamity!   At that point, I grabbed the hand vac from the hall closet and vacumed it up, then dumped the vacuum on the patio and went back to bed. No sign of it when I went out to investigate later.   Re Monarchs, as CC says, their numbers have been steadily decreasing over recent years in all parts of the country.  Such pretty things.  Yes, those NY floods were awful; the video of the water pouring into the subway station was awful - a bit like the recent floods in Japan (or was it China), where subway passengers had water up to their necks.  

    AQ:  Do you have any experience with any of the critters on Lindybird's poster?  I can't imagine...

  • ANNETTE - A single storey house would be a sensible move ..
    I love wood burning stoves but it's a bit late for that now, maybe . As you say, a lot of work involved. My OH had living flame gas fires installed here. I mentioned a wood burning stove for the sitting room but it fell on deaf ears !
  • SUNNYKATE – Pleased to see an Aussie came 3rd overall in Spain and another won the spotty jersey. Alas Tour of Britain is only available in Aussieland on subscription TV. Instead I shall check the route and visit towns, etc with good ol’ Google Earth.

    ANNETTE – In our state we have redback spiders – can cause death, they lurk in dark places like rockery stones, nasty characters. White tail spider bites – swelling itchiness, may cause local ulceration. Huntsmans not harmful or aggressive, bite may cause local swelling. I don’t think others on chart are in SA. In our house most of our indoor spiders are daddy long legs; non-aggressive. I can deal with spiders – at a distance. A broom is great weapon.

    My experience of UK summers - not really hot but horribly humid which I found unbearable. SA’s heat is a dry heat.

    OH survived his lunch with Dau; I survived reminding him of mask, sanitizer, wallet, phone, keys and then helping him find which pocket he had stashed them - before he'd even left home! A manbag would be so much simpler. My “free” time passed too quickly.

  • Just a thought

    Strangers are just friends waiting to happen.
    Friends are the Bacon Bits in the Salad Bowl of Life.

  • A bonus thought

    Don’t worry, the spider is smaller than you.
    Yeah, so is a grenade.

  • AQ.  Love...The bonus thought.... 

    Twas a very good Vuelta last  big race of season. check out today's route Slapton Sands .Torcross. ( famous for D Day landings exercise and Tank retrieval).also near village (not on race route). Lost village of Hallsands.

    Take care all

     

  • Good Morning. Sunny here again, after a misty start when I rose half an hour ago. Temps of 23 degrees expected here in the N.West of England, which is almost record breaking for September! London and the S. East may get 30 degrees today. CC: We don't need air con, the higher temps are very unusual and when they happen, are normally only for about two days length. So a couple of good fans are enough, even when it's 29 degrees plus.

    The cold and damp in winter are a far bigger challenge. Ugh.

    AQ - Love, love your quotes today! "Bacon bits!" :-D :-D
  • Thought the dog lovers on here might like to meet "Belle", a collie/lurcher cross who has just been taken in, aged 6, by my OHs cousin & wife as her owners got too frail to cope.

  • Lindybird said:

    Apologies to AQ, but my cousin has relatives in Australia & she has posted this:

    ARRGH!  :-)

    LOL!!!!!

    Our herring gulls are red listed birds.  Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.

  • Spiders ... aarrgghh!!! But I think I've already mentioned that a few times here ... any size, any location ... aarrgghh!!!

    Heather - I have lived in a bungalow for eleven years, and never regretted not having stairs. There are so many advantages. And so far I haven't found anything against it.

    Have a good day, everyone. In haste ...