Weekly Chat, Sunday January 9, 2010

Busy all day - will catch up tomorrow. Have a good Sunday all (don't forget to check last pages of previous thread. Somebody has been posting photos of puppies again!)

  • Racoon dogs on the Estonia forest camera:

  • Oh dear. Did a post; phone rang; answered it then forgot what I was doing and closed the window.

    Wendy: Hee-hee - Flat packs with a health warning, child's phone number - and tranquilizers please.

    OG: Grandson visit to dentist went very well, especially since I was sitting in the waiting room sorting through mail that had come to our house for him and found - brilliant timing - his dental insurance card. Hurray!  He called me this morning,  thrilled about having gone to traffic court (his traffic tickets are enough to fund a minor Third-World country for a year) and the judge threw out the huge administrative charges that automatically accrued when he missed a payment deadline (he's only working part-time and has to eat, etc. ) and said he could work off anything left in local volunteer program.  I let out a conditional (after all, he shouldn't' be getting any tickets) Hurray!  (he called it "stoked").

    Off to research lunch offerings....

  • Annette: I do have a secret stash of Diazapan(?)

    So pleased not to have the stress of grandkids...I think I put my girls off of the whole child thing. So just 2 grand dogs and grand horse.

  • Anette - I like a good red wine too but for everyday I tend to stick to the boxed wine. We always open a bottle on a Sunday with our Sunday roast.

    Alan - like the raccoon dogs and of course Phoebe.

    Wendy - flat pack hey!!  When we bought the new tele and table (which was flatpacked) I thought Oh no, but it was a doddle to construct.  Of course they are not always - like trying to assemble my new bird feeding pole which I had for Christmas.   A sheet of diagrams thats all, wasn't that easy but managed something.

    Egg hatching watch for Phoebe is expected from Jan 17th to 23rd re the blog.

  • This was the stills cam a moment or two ago showing quite a collection of the raccoon dogs.

  • A hint of things to come at NBG eagle cam:

     

  • evening everyone. Haven't posted for ages, sorry as always. Hope to be able to catch up tomorrow. Hope everyone's doing OK:)

  • Evening all: Just watching BBC America covering Obama's speech at the memorial service in Arizona for those killed in Saturday's attack - it's him at  his best.

    Generally doing better this evening after several frustration-filled days and restless nights. Desk is actually taking shape; ditto the landscape project - all the plants, including the fruitless olive trees, were delivered today and are stashed in the back garden with the exception of the trees, which are parked outside the bedroom window. The trees, which are really beautiful, will go in the ground tomorrow.  Lady who helped with design is coming by to supervise that. Landscape dude was charming and conciliatory after being something of a patronizing pain in the derriere this morning - we are all seeing the light at the end of this particular tunnel.  Hurray.

    Wendy: Thanks for offer to share your secret drug stash!  At this rate, we may be able to survive with just a glass of wine. Like many things, grandkids can be a great source of joy, occasionally offset by not-so-joyful scares and surprises.  :-) )  All part of life's rich pattern (or so they tell me). 

    Lynette: Like you, I tend to guzzle - not that you guzzle of course - "everyday" wine and keep the good stuff for special treats, but why is cheaper white wine so much easier to drink than cheesy red plonk?! Difficult to imagine how a bird feeding pole could be harder to assemble than a telly - or maybe not.

    Alan: Thanks for all the great Phoebe shots - do hope she has more luck with her eggy endeavours this year. Great shot from eagle cam!

    Gary: You really - trust me on this! - don't have to apologize for not posting every day.

    Apologies if I've missed mentioning all the lovely individuals on the site - do hope all are well.  

  • Unknown said:

    Wonder where Diane is these days - the last we heard she was off out to dinner with her bro and his fiancee. Probably out talking to the local critters in between working on her house!  Hi to everyone else; thanks for posts and pix!

    Annette, I did have a chat with a HUGE red-tailed hawk this week. That hawk living in my woods is the biggest one I've ever seen. We had a bit of a blizzard along with very cold temps, and I went out to start my car, just so the battery would stay charged. It was snowing fiercely. As I was opening the door to the car, the hawk -- who was hidden in a pine tree next to my driveway -- gave a couple of very hoarse, cold screeches at me. I started my car and as I was getting out, the hawk flew into a taller tree where I could see him. We stared right at each other for a minute. I talked to him gently, and he didn't fly. Then he screeched at me urgently several times.

    Just then, I heard a strange hissing sound, and I realized that another one of my tires/tyres was going flat! I swear that hawk was warning me not to drive that car! I turned around and thanked the hawk. He then flew up on the ridge and landed on the ground. Maybe he was just screaming at me because I ruined his hunt (perhaps one of the rabbits was going to be a dinner entree), but I appreciated his presence just the same. :-)))