Evening all: Don't miss the last couple of pages of last week's chat. Gary's been at it again, posting incredibly cute puppy pix!
OG: Yes, Los Carneros means "the rams" in Spanish; while La Patera (the original ranch that Los Carneros was on) is "the place where the ducks gather." In the 1700s, after the Spanish settled here, it was cattle country; then in the 1860s,about a decade after California became a state, folks from back East started bringing in sheep, which survived periods of drought better than cattle and whose wool was in demand by eastern and southern states during the Civil War when the cotton industry was decimated. Anyway, in the 1870s, the American family that owned Rancho La Patera planted the first commercial lemon orchard in the state (or the Goleta Valley depending on which source you read). I drive to Costco along Cathedral Oaks Blvd - which runs north of Lake Los Carneros - past huge citrus orchards and the remaining acreage of Rancho La Patera. As for the vineyards, they're over the hills behind Santa Barbara in the higher, dryer Santa Ynez Valley. All very complicated.
Gary: Never been to Yellowstone - was heading that way one October but an early snowfall blocked the Western entry so had to "make do" with Grand Teton National park. Sigh. If you're looking for somewhere to stay, you can always visit TripAdvisor and read everyone's reviews of the options.
OK guys, off to do a crossword and watch some rubbish on telly. Take care ALL.
OG - glad the nurse was able to take your blood OK. Wonder what you meant when you said Burns dinner with a twist - intriguing.
Lindybird - forgot to mention how lovely sweetpea is and oh my, he is growing isn't he.
Alan - thanks for the link , I'll try that one.
http://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/things-to-do/wildlife-webcams/loch-of-lowes/
RSPB Giving Nature a Home
Australia Day. Thank you OG for your good wishes. I heard that 13,000 people from 144 countries will be naturalized Australians today.
Margo & OG If you think Scotland is large, never come to Aussieland. You will feel so insignificant. LOL. Dibnlib re Shetland map - we have a similar thing with some maps forgetting Tasmania. Tassie people refer to us as the north island!! And New Zealanders refer to us as West Island!!!
I went out to pick my first ripe tomato yesterday, but someone had eaten half already, so I picked the 3 nearly ripe ones to ripen inside. I left the half-eaten one on the ground beside the bush. An hour later there was no sign of it! We are wondering if Lizarda is in residence. I should have kept watch. Annette - when the toms get sunburnt that patch just goes rotten.
Many months ago little white lines & numbers (distances) were marked in our street - 99 beside our letterbox. Then a letter to say the kerbing would be redone "within 2 months". Time & 2 months have passed. This week at last diggers & trucks are replacing the gutters & kerbing here and there. Not outside our place luckily. But dust and noise and 25 kph signs. I wonder how long they will take.
I have started to get fit with a combination of weight-lifting & walking. (That’s a joke - read on.) We decided to remove the lounge room wallpaper - it’s been here longer than us, it is water damaged from past storms & grimy. I have been removing the wallpaper from accessible places, behind this chair & that, when I have felt energetic. Yesterday I emptied 2 bookcases & ½ the china cabinet and stashed the contents somewhere in the rest of the house. Despite my knees and ankles screaming this morning I have finished the china cabinet. OH has moved the bookcases, so I have more accessible areas. He has the not-a-favourite task of painting if I ever finish LOL.
Annette: Meteorite Men is on the Science Channel tonight. I'm watching it at 11:00 PM my time.
Evening all: Bit of an aggravating day landscape-wise; all okay had me watching the clock for the "decent" time to pour a glass of wine! Will catch up tomorrow.
Diane: Just logged on to see your message - and catch the credits at the end of Meteorite Men! We were watching multiple documentaries on the building of the Airbus and its first flight. Very interesting. But off to bed now. Night all
Andy Murray has just won the second set. If he wins the next, I'll probably hear your cheers from here.
Hi, all. Hope everyone had a good Burns Night and Australia Day.
Annette: Sorry the landscaping process has been bumpy. Hope it all gets sorted the way you want it. Meteorite Men was pretty good. I assume you watched the State of Union speech. I confess I didn't watch it; I'm too angry at all politicians. They all just give me a whopping headache. I'm getting ready to watch House Hunters International. They're going to show a couple looking at houses in Ashbourne, Ireland. I'm really interested in seeing the homes and the area. I just watched an episode filmed in Norway. The homes were lovely and the landscape was too.
Joan: I'm so glad that you and your husband will be able to take a nice trip to Ireland. Wonderful! I'll have to bring up a map and check out the Cork area. I want to hear all about your trip.
AQ: Glad to hear that Lizarda might be about. Removing wallpaper is hard work. You have my sympathies on that terrible task. Glad Jasper is improving.
Lindy: Help! I need an antidote! Quick! I'm having an extreme overdose of cuteness from looking at baby Sweetpea. That is one gorgeous sweet precious baby. Glad you have room for more pics on your PC.
Alan: Loved the pics of the eagles on the love branch. I wish you very good luck in your battle with the DVLA/insurance company. I'm dealing with my Dad's health and life insurance companies. Massive, rotten, slow bureaucracies! Drives me crazy!
Margo: I'll bet Billy Whizz will be an indoor cat by summer.
OG: Interesting reading your post about your forgotten location. So would your accent be very different from someone in the Highlands or someplace else in Scotland? I wish I could hear all of your voices; this blog needs to be audio, too. :-) Glad your blood test was successful. My birds have been absent this week, too (and we're not having a bird count!). I didn't see the hawk when I went down the lane to the mailbox. I did see two pairs of cardinals, and I heard a pair of crows. I'm worried about the pileated woodpeckers. I haven't heard them for a while. Hope your solar panels are proving profitable. I've turned my heat way, way down. I like my house to be very cool. By the way, give Tesco heck!!! Hope your son has good luck at the doc's office.
dibnlib: I hope your bone density scan results are good! I also hope you're improving daily! That was a terrible injury you sustained.
Hi to everyone I missed. Off to watch the Irish houses. Everyone have a good Wednesday!
DIANE Accents throughout the UK are all very different, and some much more difficult to understand than others.Different words as well are used in different areas -eg in Highland we use the word bourach (does anyone know how to spell this please) - to mean a complete muddle. I hadn't come across this word till we moved here. Even as a Scot I find it difficult to understand some fellow Scots and Shetland was particularly problematic. Love their word for wee/small/little which was peerie, explains itself doesn't it. Have a good Australia Day. Huskie friend coming shortly and we will all go to Tiso, then into town to get bits and bobs to take to Mums. Shall really miss my gym and swim over the next few days.
Morning Everyone: Had strange dreams last night so feel a little strange myself, this morning! Such a vivid imagination, that I dream in widescreen technicolour and have a job shaking it all off for a while when I awake. Told Husband off for something he did in the dream, to make him laugh this morning! He is one of those who claims not to dream much at all, but I suspect that he does: he just forgets it all upon waking.
A bit brighter here today - the watery sun is making an appearance. I have a letter to write to an old friend - its her birthday soon, so of course she is also going to get some photos of Sweetpea, whether she likes it or not!
AQ: You have my full sympathy if you are removing old wallpaper - usually, the older it is, the more it becomes part of the very fabric of the house! A few years ago we invested in a steam gadget for removing it, and have never looked back - it works like a dream and well worth the money in 'elbow grease.'
See that Andy Murray won and is on course for the semi finals now - trouble is, he will probably meet Nadal next......
Have a Good Day, All.
Lynette – our dinner contained the usual haggis, neeps and tatties, but I stuffed chicken with haggis and wrapped it in bacon, we didn’t mash the potatoes, but turned them into the (Highland-style) oaten tatties with butter and oats, and served brussels as well as the mashed swede because we always have at least two different vegetables. We didn’t have a traditionally Scottish pudding such as cranachan, but we did have some frozen Scottish raspberries in our usual yoghourt and fruit!
AQ – I wasn’t claiming that Scotland is large in world terms, but the English (including me before I knew better) have a very small image of it! Sorry “someone” beat you to the ripe tomato – but hope it was Lizarda. Hope you enjoy the other three when they finish ripening. I hope your kerbing work gets finished soon – not pleasant in hot, dry and dusty weather. Take care with the wall-paper stripping and moving furniture to do it. How many layers did you find?!! We have always taken off paper when we moved, and have painted walls ourselves – luckily this bungalow was all painted when we moved in – and decent neutral colour too.
Annette – sorry about your aggravating day with the landscaping. You must be nearing completion.
Diane – my accent is mostly English! I grew up in the south of England but I’m one of those people who picks up accents, so 2 years in Yorkshire and 30 in Lancashire gave me quite a north of England accent! It can be embarrassing, because people think I am mimicking them! I sing with a local accent in church, because I am singing with local people! There are many different accents in Scotland but they are getting more mixed as the population is more and more mobile. Edinburgh has variations on “Miss Brodie” and Fife is similar (but they might not like me saying it!). Glasgow has many accents because of immigration into the city, and also uses more Scots language. Glasgow and Renfrewshire are probably the hardest to understand. Aberdeen is quite distinctive – a soft “singing” sound - and Morayshire is a warm accent. The Highland accents are surprisingly easy to understand but Orkney and Shetland are quite different because of the Norse influence, so they have different dialect as well as accent. The accents of Gaelic-speakers speaking English are just delightful!
The solar panels are doing well in the better light, and OH completed the “paperwork” online last night, although the package of guarantees and certificates is still on its way! We are just hoping our feed-in tariff will be backdated as the installation was completed 16th December!
Dibnlib – I wrote the above about accents before I saw your post! Your spelling of bourach is correct – derived from “small hill or mound” - a mound of rubbish!
Lindy – sorry your dreams made you a bit disoriented this morning. We too have some sunshine – a warm night, but now to start getting cooler again.
Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!
Just read further back - Yes, my OH surely has farmer's hands and has a weatherbeaten face, too! He has been outdoors for most of his life and hates to be indoors, except when watching the sport or old B & W films on TV!
I, too was incensed when they did the 'new' weathermaps on TV showing Scotland as tiny and receding! Anyone who has driven up there ( we have been as far as The Isle of Skye) knows that it takes many hours and reveals how huge it is, in relation at least to the rest of UK! I still shout at the weatherman, poor man, as I hate the way they show it curving away - imagine if they had turned UK on its head and London was just a dot at the top! Also describe the weathermap as "The Flying Cowpat" as that's what it seems, to me.... what a horrible colour they have made our green and pleasant land. sorry, rant over.
Looking forward to seeing the 'Black Swan' film today. Noticed that Claudia Winkleman raved about it in "Film 2011" but her colleague (male) on the other hand, was not impressed.
Glad they got some blood out of you, OG! Not always as easy as it sounds, I know. Hope you get everything sorted with your solar panels saga.