Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 23 October 2022

Lynette:  Good to hear that you appear to be in line for knee help, although I was reading recently about the very long wait for NHS surgeries....

Heather:  I have a fridge magnet that says "Jesus is coming; look busy."

AQ:  Wasting time is better than spinning your wheels though, which I feel I've been doing lately.

Have physical therapy today. Leg/back already better and I rode the recumbent bike at the gym yesterday - set on zero resistance - and can feel it this morning.  Really!  Need to reset my priorities here!   Along those lines, I've decided I'm going to give up the regular freelance gig with the magazine. The research part of the job used to be much smaller and the writing part much more fun; now - because the magazine has gone from 8 to 4 issues a year but increased their online presence -  it's grown into something that demands way more time on the computer/phone and the writing part is now almost incidental.  Also, in the past I worked with a funny and irreverent editor in a collaborative way; he now has other responsibilities and the new (very nice) editor is completely hands-off,.   Anyway, plan to get this last assignment in this week and then be done with it.  

Take care all.

Just thinking of moving house with a dog. Our very first goldie moved from Bushy Heath to join us in Uxbridge then a few months later we moved to the Shrewsbury area, 21/2 years later we were off to Moray. then after 2 years we went back to Shropshire. We were there for only 6 months when we were moved to Fife where we stayed for about 4 years. Our next move was back down to Bucks and a year later we moved to Ayr. Next stop was Shetland were we first lived in the south end, then a few months later bought our own house on the outskirts of Lerwick. A few months later our beloved Harvey was put to sleep at the grand age of 14 years and 4 months. He coped with all our moves with no problem. One of the most heartrending moves was from Moray to Shropshire. We had a huge walk in wardrobe where we stored the packed suitcases. When the room was cleared of everything we put Harvey in the room and out of the way. Next time when we looked in, he was in the cupboard right by the suitcases as if to say, please remember to take me as well. We had gone up to Shetland with 2 goldies and returned with 1 who enjoyed his 13 years of living in Culloden where we have lived since leaving Shetland. Hard to believe we have now lived in the same house for 27 years!!!

OH dear LINDY. I am so sorry you are feeling miserable. Like you I don't cope well with the heat and to think you have to cope with insect bites as well. How much longer before you return home?

Lynnette - what a great sentence you out at the end of your post. It is what I try to do. I am certainly thankful for what I have.
Today I have had 2 sets of visitors which is very rare for me. I find as a now single person, that I am always the one who goes to other people. I really enjoyed making lunch in the case of the first visitors and then a late afternoon cuppa for the others.
I am pleased that the ball is now rolling re your kneee.
Lindy - I hope you have had a nicer cooler day today.
Annette - it sounds like a good decision to give up your freelance work now that you are really not enjoying it. I am glad the physio was beneficial.
Dibnlib - I was exhausted reading about all your house moves!!! It was a very interesting account though.

dinblib: Dogs are so aware of pending changes. My daughter's dog gets very restless whenever my daughter, granddaughter, etc., begin to pack up things or start putting them in the car. When my daughter was in hospital with Covid last year, the dog sat outside the door to her part of the house and whimpered pathetically every evening.  Last weekend, the dog arrived with the kids and seemed a lot more blase, probably because our house is almost like a second home now. She has her own favorite spots to sprawl, usually right in the middle of where we walk!

Dogs are, all too frequently, smarter than their owners! At least that's been my experience when we've been out birding and there have been all too many dogs off the lead where they shouldn't be.

The flight of a bar-tailed godwit, Alaska to Tasmania

I have been birdwatching to Point of Ayr on the Dee estuary this morning at high tide. We had a fantastic time. Before we left the car park we saw a flock of long tailed tits, a blackcap and a greater spotted woodpecker!! As you walk along towards the hide, you pass a most unpromising small pond which usually has a moorhen on it. Today, in the sunshine in all its splendour was a kingfisher. It posed, and flew, and posed and flew. It was just awesome. That’s the thing with birdwatching isn’t it? You just never know what you are going to see. Once at the hide we saw huge numbers of oystercatcher, redshank, curlew, shelduck, pintail, wigeon, teal, mallard, plus cormorants, lapwing, skylarks (some even singing) stonechat, goldfinches, linnets, a most incongruous pheasant - no idea what that was doing on the saltmarsh - 2 of our group saw a merlin (not me) .Of course there were little egrets. There were many more too. We ended the morning at the super bakery there where a pasty and a cup of tea can be purchased for under £4!!!!

What a wonderful time you all had with a great way to end.