Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 5 September 2021

KATE – Thanks for suggesting Hallsands – I had not known of it. I’m about to tour Devon as TV tonight is absolute rubbish. My memories of Devon - on our bus tour we spent 2 nights in Plymouth. I was excited that we were to visit Dartmoor the first evening, alas for my dreams of Lorna Doone, etc. We travelled to see a prison, had an dull meal in a pub, were treated to ghost stories and back to hotel.

Bacon bits and spiders and friends, oh my!
Loved the bonus thoughts, AQ.

Lindy, your comment about the damp cold winters reminds me of a brother in law in New Zealand who says much the same. That's where a nice wood fire helps, as long as it doesn't suck the rest of the heat up the chimney! But I do not like the humidity with the heat, either. My intolerance is probably due to lack of acclimatization on my part.

Annette, I'll not tag the butterfly once it comes out, makes me too nervous. One year I had a monarch nursery going in my breezeway, collected as eggs on milkweed leaves in my yard. 12 caterpillars will eat your milkweed out of house and home, let alone cleaning up their poop every day. Bad as raising ravens...no it's not, this only lasts a short time. All in all, it takes about 2 weeks from egg to chrysalis. Can't attend to anything else during the day once they get to 4th and 5th instars (about 5 days) what with providing clean food and quarters constantly. Then, after they turn into chrysalises, whew, the work is basically over, and you get to enjoy watching them get ready to emerge! JOY!

Heather: My house is only a one floor ranch, I've lived here since 1993 and I love it. Bought it in my 30's with an eye to aging in place. My friends made fun of me when I redid the bathroom with grab bars, etc but now I'm glad. Walkers will fit through all the doors, and a washer/dryer can be fit into a spare closet if I can't do basement stairs. In the meantime, I can clean my own gutters and windows, and my heating bills are low.

Diane: I have my star chart and am hoping for a clear night during the new moon. Too much light pollution and trees here, so will have to drive elsewhere for a good view.

CC, PAT, LINDY , ANNETTE, et al -
I'm so grateful for your input.
The best way I can put things is to say that at the moment I am driven by emotion. When I'm feeling low, it is tempting to think that if I move house, everything will get better. I'm very aware of the danger of ' magical thinking' . There will come a time when I can hopefully make a decision that won't come back and haunt me...

Heather - You are absolutely right. Any decision needs to be made at the right time and for the right reasons. I can quite understand the emotional ties. And you are absolutely right - if the only reason for moving is hope that everything will get better, it's probably not the right time! But the right time will come - and you will recognise it.

Back again! No excuses for absence - but I am now back to using my PC which is so much easier and more normal. Legs are still un-co-operative – seeing orthopaedic consultant on Wednesday – real face-to-face appointment!

I won’t try reading back into last week, so will start with thanks to DIANE for starting the new week. Sorry number of covid cases is high there – and vaccinations not increasing. Our region is not so dire as it looked recently, but nothing to be proud of. Jealous of the affectionate Hen – they can be very friendly – when they choose! What breed are the fancy hens? I loved going to poultry shows and having conversations with the exhibits in chicken language – people would stop and listen to me!

AQ – I hope your OH will enjoy his Fathers’ Day lunches with the daughters. Now I can enjoy your thoughts without having to think of using them for the church communications.

PAT – just heard from church secretary that someone offered at the end of yesterday’s meeting to be church mag editor - not a surprising offer as I knew she resented me doing it – funny person.

LINDA and HEATHER – good weather continues here, but we were blessed with some overnight rain – OH prepared for that by mowing all the lawns yesterday!

Morning all:

AQ:  I have two daddy longlegs currently living near where I hang clothes before I iron them. I gather they eat other bugs, but I've never seen bugs small enough for them to eat so either they're doing a great job or they're mere squatters. "Free" time is a rarity in our house as OH doesn't venture out much.   A UK show called Guilt started here last night and must apologize to all the folks north of the border when I say I had to put on the captions because I kept missing the dialogue what with those Scottish accents.  Watched the first two out of four episodes and looking forward to the remainders.

SunnyKate2: Thanks also from here re Hallsands; Googled it and amazing that no-one died.. Another case of clueless human meddling with nature....

Lindybird: Definitely the damp cold is the worst; gets inside your bones.  I remember...

CC: When I was growing the non-native milkweed I couldn't believe how quickly the caterpillars decimated the plants.  I'm sure some of them perished due to lack of food.   This year I'm tempted to get someone in to clean our gutters; we put mesh strips over most of the areas under our Chinese Elm, but the birds hang out on them near the feeders and knock them off.   Re the night sky, when I was up north visiting friends, one of them told me about an app for smart phones that, when you point the phone to the sky, will tell you what you're seeing.  We have too much ambient light around here to see much (although the city is actually replacing all the street lights this month with 'greener' options).  Family in Prescott Valley has a spectacular view of the sky on any night without clouds. Do you have a telescope?

Heather:  Do you guys have Open House days when property goes up for sale and anyone can just show up and look around?  They're just restarting them here following Covid shutdowns. It's a great way to take a look at possible options when the time is right (or even to get ideas for upgrading your own home).  

Labor Day here, so some places closed while others have end-of-summer sales.  I'm already seeing Hallowe'en stuff in stores.  It'll be Christmas stuff soon..... 

Take care all.

I remember bring disappointed when driving through Dartmoor - that's all it is, really, just a lot of Moor....

Just said Goodbye to Sue, who came around to have a chat & sit in the garden. Her dog has a rather disconcerting habit of lifting his leg on just about everything, so we shut the door so he couldn't get into the house!!

Unknown said:

just heard from church secretary that someone offered at the end of yesterday’s meeting to be church mag editor - not a surprising offer as I knew she resented me doing it – funny person.

It's far from funny to find this kind of person attending church.  What would Jesus Christ have said to her, I wonder?  It sounds like you've done the right thing in stepping back if you had poison being muttered as you (very kindly) did this job.

OG:  How did I miss your post?   Good to see you but sorry that legs are being altogether uncooperative.  All I can say is that the new person will now find out just how much time and hassle is involved in putting together the magazine.  Not your problem anymore.

OG: I'm so very sorry that your legs are still not cooperating. I hope the orthopedic doc can provide some new, successful treatment. For what it's worth, I think you were right to off-load the responsibility for the church magazine and look for ways to de-stress your lives. You and Eagle-Eye need to take care of yourselves and put each other first. Not that it's my business to say...

I think the fancy chicken is a "Light Brahma" hen, although I could be wrong because I haven't been around poultry since I was a child. My friend chicken is white with black-tipped feathers on her throat and tail. She has feathered, furry legs. My neighbor also has some bright rusty red chickens that are also very affectionate and like to be held. My neighbor gave me some brown eggs. The chickens have a large heated coop, but they run wild outside of it most of the day. I have to watch for them when I drive down my driveway lane. LOL They come running when the neighbor brings their food to the coop. My chicken friend cackled and cooed loudly at me when I walked down the lane to get my mail today. LOL