Morning all: Here's to a good week for everyone. Check out latest pages of last week's thread to see great pix by OG of a kestrel on a road sign and a signpost for migrating birds and Gary's photos of the lovable Toffee plus his Toffee-proof technology. Just had dinner and managed to turn perfectly lovely piece of halibut into shoe leather! Hate it when that happens, but was busy watching weather forecast. Desk is looking cleaner - can actually see the surface now. Take care all!
Morning all: Good night's sleep - hurray! Storm is approaching and have to look in on Miss Molly (daughter's horse) this morning, plus some other errands so hoping to get them all done by mid-afternoon when heavy rain expected.
Diane: I missed the Space Shuttle too! So annoyed with myself as I'd made a note of it, then was sitting eating lunch and reading when it took off!
Back later; take care all.
Bracing walk at Chanonry this am. Only 3 others on the beach and no dolphins. As we left a few people were arriving with cameras and large lenses and I always think "Do they know something we don't?"
Decided to lunch at cafe1 instead of Rocpool and we were not disappointed. We added a pud each and a bottle of white wine so our 2 courses for £10 each turned out much more expensive than planned, but we certainly enjoyed it. OH off to watch junior international rugby this evening (Scotland v Ireland) but I will not be joining him. Interesting take on "Calcutta Cup" this year. who will be cheering loudest, Princess Ann for Scotland or Zara for England (with presumably Mike Tindall as captain?)
Afternoon All: Just back from trip to gym in Inverness sunny and windy when I went in so I left my car with the man in the carpark who does a fantastinc cleaning job mainly to get all the salt off of it. When I came out of gym super clean car and it rained all the way down the A9 to Carrbridge so back to square one. Rivers are really high as the snow on the mountains is melting fast.
Alan: You are right about pressure put on workers nowadays. I retired a bit earlier than you when I came up here 9 years ago...didn't like the way the banking industry was going and after the events of the last 3 years it was the best thing I ever did. OH is many years from retirement...age gap thing if you get my drift.
OG: Hope your visit by son is going well. I bet you are spoiling him somewhat. I see my girls in 3 weeks can't wait and yes I do spoil them. I even do batch cooking for their freezers.
Hi folks. did housework this morning and a bit more research on ancestry. Now to the serious stuff.
Lindybird - what a great poem for Dianne and glad she liked it.
AQ - like your Friday smile - I too have those technical items!!!!!!
Alan - another peregrine cam, there are so many now, what with eagles, bears, wildlife cams in Africa - just spoilt for choice. Love those pics of the osprey and glad you captured egg at San Francisco site. Just put it on and there she was, having a snack.
http://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/things-to-do/wildlife-webcams/loch-of-lowes/
RSPB Giving Nature a Home
Lindybird - glad you managed to get down to Sons and saw Sweetpea - 12 weeks - my how its flown, soon he'll be wanting to come up to Grans for a stay.
Annette - glad you managed to get your weeding done. I'm afraid I am very lazy where gardening is concerned but as soon as the weather picks up I must try and tidy it up a bit.
George - how are you getting on with Diesel - I'm sure he's making a valuable companion for you.
Took these next few pics round about mid=day here; Penguins, elephants at Tembe Elephant Park, Decorah eagle
Oh Alan, your capture of Hope, how wonderful, absolutely adorable! Thank you for that! I will copy it into my 'bloggers' photos file if that is OK with you.
Birdie's DU Summaries 2018 https://www.imagicat.com/
Annette I am busy catching up. I have looked up your next book club read Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier, and it sounds a fascinating book to read. Apparently the heroine was based on the real life Mary Anning, renowned as the greatest fossil-hunter ever who worked on the coast at Lyme Regis. I have found a review which was written in The Guardian, a British daily newspaper, in 2009 which you might find interesting: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/aug/29/remarkable-creatures-tracy-chevalier. One section says: As a young child, Mary survived a lightning strike, which people said made her strange and extra bright. She had an uncanny gift for finding fossils, was the origin of the tongue-twister "She Sells Sea Shells on the Sea Shore", and in 1811 when she was 12 (Darwin was two) her first big find, a "crocodile" later named ichthyosaurus, rocked the scientific world. She unearthed a plesiosaurus in 1823, a pterodactyl in 1828 and a squaloraja (a transition fish, between sharks and rays) in 1829. Talk about tantalising! I hope you enjoy your read.
Alan thanks for the pic of Hope, a real aaahhh moment.
Spring is certainly getting nearer. The grass is growing and getting greener. It won't be long and there will be lots of gardening to add to the other jobs.
Gary I'm suffering withdrawal symptoms as we haven't seen TT for a few days, or it seems that way.
Friday is egg day. 1st egg for San Jose peregrines:
http://www2.ucsc.edu/scpbrg/nestcamSJ.htm