Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 14 January 2024

HAPPY NEW WEEK!

I hope everyone has a good week.

I don't have any wildlife stories to share this week. We've had snow and 60 mph winds last night, and tonight we've been warned of dangerous arctic cold settling in. The "feels like" temperature (sub-zero temp plus wind chill) is predicted to be near 25 below zero Fahrenheit. That's 32 below zero Celcius. All of the wildlife have gone to their burrows, nests, and other shelter to try to stay warm. We've been warned that power outages are possible, and the extreme cold will stay around through the week. I'm going to read the novel "Project Hail Mary", which I've had for awhile but haven't read yet. I bought a second arctic sleeping bag for the bed and also some thick, fleece slipper socks and some flip-top gloves.

Hugs to all of you!

  • DIANE We lived near Shrewsbury in the early 80s and in January 1982 had a min temp of -25 for 3 weeks solid so I know what it is like. Later on that year we heard we were posted to Lossiemouth the next January. There were people who looked at us in horror saying oh my goodness it is cold up there!!! Well of course in our time at Lossie it never got to temps as low as that! It is totally untrue that the further north you live the colder it is.
  • Hi to all and Diane I will be keeping a watch on your temperatures - lots of layers and keep moving even just walking around the house and up and down stairs etc - it really helps.

    Well yesterday we had my Sisters 80th Birthday celebration - over 30 family gathered, ranging in age from a few weeks to 80+ from across the country in a beautiful old hotel with beams everwhere. We had a private bar area and then a seperate dining room just for us with excellent food and drink. Her Son's speech was very moving and she struggled to hold back the tears but rose to make a very good response.

    The only sad thing was her husband had a nasty fall the day before while they were at a funeral and went face down and they then spent 5 hours in A&E but he bravely came yesterday with a dressing over his nose and 2 black eyes. Then to top it off he fell out of bed and hit the side of his face on the bedside table so he is feeling very fed up. We all had breakfast together and departed about 11am.

    I have a couple of walks planned for next week and will also be wrapping up as we are expecting very low temps.

    Have a good week all and Heather I do hope you are able to get home soon and OG, EE & J are all doing ok.

  • I would be very pleased if we only had two squirrels! We have dozens!! They do a lot of damage - this morning I saw they had dug up one of my pots outside the door, presumably to bury nuts, or perhaps to look for whatever they buried there last time they dug it up! We have discovered, though, that the foxes (yes, we have plenty of those as well! have discovered they are quite partial to squirrel, so they do help to keep down the numbers. Now we need to find some natural predator for magpies ... they are very beautiful, but not in the numbers we have. It's wonderful living among wildlife - but moderation in all things, please!

    Harelady - so pleased you were able to enjoy a family gathering for your sister's birthday. I hope your brother in law's bruises fade soon, but the happy memories linger on.
  • HARELADY Glad all went well but sorry for the husband. Glad he felt able to attend the celebrations.
  • What a lot of posts already!!!
    Thank you for starting us off Diane. I can’t imagine such temperatures. I do hope your sleeping bag, socks and gloves help. I also fervently hope that you don’t lose power.
    AQ - it must be so difficult for you at the moment. Let’s hope you will be able to make a bit of progress with these cards. Try not to get disheartened.
    My niece and family have arrived in Adelaide. They seem to be staying in a rented bungalow on the grounds of a horse farm. I guess her husband’s brother must have hired it for them. It looks nice.
    Harelady - so pleased your sister’s birthday party went off so well apart from her poor OH having 2 falls. That was rather worrying.
    Re squirrels. I have one or two. I invested in a couple of squirrel proof feeders and they seem to do the trick.
    My friend and I went for our usual walk down our local lane this morning. The heavens opened and we got drenched!!! Still enjoyed it though. It’s about 3 miles. I am going out tonight for an Indian meal with her, her OH and another friend to celebrate her birthday which was earlier this week. (Yes another meal out - lol!!!!)
  • Cirrus: We hung our feeder under the eaves of the house after the squirrels found it in the hedge and scarfed up everything. Now they get as far as the end of the chain but can't grip the smooth metal/plastic tube thingy to get to the actual feeder (which has a metal 'roof').. We see them on the ground under the feeder looking for spilled seeds.

    Harelady:  Sounds like a lovely day (black eyes and falls notwithstanding!)   I remember my sister and her OH were staying at a hotel in London prior to catching the Eurostar to Paris.  She got out of bed that morning, took a tumble into the bedside table and ended up with black eyes and swollen face for their anniversary trip.  

  • Harelady - A lovely celebration for your sister, but what a shame about her OH. My OH is going to be 80 in March and has announced that the last thing he wants is a party. I've had to promise seriously that I won't arrange a surprise party for him. Instead, he wants just a lunch out somewhere with both of his sisters & one of his cousins (& his wife). One of his sisters was divorced years ago, & the other lost her OH suddenly, just before Christmas last year. I don't know how disappointed our sons will be, not to be invited, but it is a long way for them both.

    Annette, I talk a lot! I think it's to make up for the long silences as my OH is the opposite, and I often carry on talking when going out of the room. This doesn't go down too well nowadays as he's going deaf so I have to repeat myself, so I'm learning!

    We have as many as 7 to 10 magpies here, quite often. I think they breed but stay around instead of looking for new territory as there only used to be a couple of them. The squirrels come from a nearby wood - in the past they have dug up & eaten our bulbs in tubs just by the house. I use squirrel proof feeders for the birds where I can but these squirrels are hanging upside down on the peanut feeder, just to get at very tiny bits of nut through the mesh. Bonnie goes bananas when she sees them through the window!

  • We went out to a local Garden Centre, where we shared a large slice of delicious carrot cake covered in icing with pistachio nuts scattered on it. I bought a diary half price, and some bird feeding suet cakes ready for the coming cold snap. My OH bought seeds for his beans & peas to be planted in spring.
  • Morning all: Fun story from today's Washington Post. Hope the link works. https://wapo.st/47Cp3ik
  • Lovely, Annette!!

    Today we visited Sue, who has a really bad chesty cold, and suffered from a cough so badly that she's been seeing a doctor for several weeks. We ate some leftover Christmas cake and put the world to rights.