Weekly Chat, Sunday April 10, 2011

Glad to see you back with us George, but sorry to learn that you are feeling under the weather. I'm afraid I don't take any medicine when I get a cold or cough, which is rare, but have cold water and let nature take its course, usually lasting about a fortnight, but thats me and not everybody is the same.  Do hope you are feeling better soon.

ShielaFE - chiropracter, sounds a bit painful. I have an arthritic knee and stenosis of the spine which means II can't stand for any length of time, or walk very far.  I take diclofenic every other day and that is the only painkiller that seems to help and am learning to live with the condition.   Sympathies all round.

Diane - nice to see you back with us - gadgets working fine and am particularly please with my new printer which is WiFi enabled - so instead of using dau and OH ink on their printers I can use mine instead - great.

I have enjoyed having a small spending spree courtesy of my mums inheritance but now its back to reality and reign in the itchy fingers of spending so to speak.

Thanks for all your news updates.   Have a lovely weekend everybody and to those that are not feeling too good - get well soon.  Thoughts and prayers are with you all.

Hope you enjoyed your meal out Trish2.

Although I contacted SWT re the Lady of the Loch book by Helen Armitage and was told I would be sent a copy and to pay for it on receipt I still have not received one and have given up. Instead I have sent for the paperback copy from Amazon which should be arriving shortly.

It is such a shame we are not alllowed to publish pics on the blog site as people are missing out on what is happening. We just have to watch the webcam and hope and pray all goes well for Lady.  Was reading in their blog that they leave the egg so that the incubation time can be reasonably close to another egg when laid is due to hatch - sounds a bit confusing - but if you read their blog there is an explanation why they leave an egg unattended from time to time.

Evening all:  Been busy with family stuff and the garden; didn't even get to the Rose Garden this week. Did go whale counting on the spur of the moment today and saw a cow and calf pair. They came in pretty close - the baby was on the outside so we had a hard time spotting her. Then a huge pod of about 2,000 dolphins came barreling along farther out and - we think - spooked them, at which point Mom and Little Squirt turned back and hung out just below the observation point for a little while.  Anyway, Mike managed to snag a photo of the pair - you can see it at http://www.graywhalescount.org/GWC/The_Count/The_Count.html  Also, he was saying there was a report yesterday of 20 Orcas (killer whales) out in the channel. Not good news for mother whales and their little squirts en route to Alaska...

Haven't been able to access the SWT cam and no time to explore what might be a Flash Player problem - and yet again no time to work more on getting my printer to work wirelessly.  Seemed like it was Friday just a few days ago....

Take care everyone; hope those who aren't feeling 100 percent get better. Have a wonderful Saturday.

JSB and everyone. Have you ever seen this link of when Red 8T  was at Loch Garten in 2005?  See Loch Garten 2005.

News just in. Earthquake 5.2 in Christchurch NZ and another 5.4 near Mackay. Queensland.

The painting is finished, except for any touch-ups that may be required. Right now we think it is perfect. LOL I'm away to the country tomorrow, away from the smell of paint (label says it doesn't smell, Huh!). I hope my niggly paint headache disappears. Have a great weekend.

Morning, Everyone:   Will read the above soon, but notice that yet again Tiger has come up with a useful link - thanks for that Tiger, and for all your helpful information. You are a fund of knowledge, and so willing to share it with others.

Watched the video of the Chris Packham programme last night (twice!) from the other day.  Fascinating stuff, but frustrating for us osprey fans who feel we know all the birds personally. As usual in these productions, they mix up bits of film of different birds/animals and locations.  Am in the process of writing a poem about the event, will post it when its finished.

Off now to get 'hosed down' and then the dreaded supermarket run.  Have a Good Weekend, All!

EDIT  Forgot to say, that the sun is shining brightly here, and it looks promising for the weekend.

Overlapped with AQ -  Glad to hear that the decorating is finished, AQ - enjoy your break away!

-- terrible that there are so many earthquakes at present - hope no one is hurt.

Lindybird  You are too kind :) Yes that link shows the first egg kicking incident. A less well known fact is that Loch Garten produced a DVD that year (also 2006 I think). Then I think they decided it was not worth the effort.

Here was a picture of Red 8T back then

Then of course he recovered his fame when satellite tagged by Roy Dennis in 2009. See Red 8T

He featured in the osprey quiz.

Good mroning Tiger and what a wonderful pic of Red 8T.

morning All some news from the bear site you might be interested in

Today, we fell far behind on emails and were unable to follow media coverage as we dealt with Jason and DNR issues.  Jason’s body was released to us today, and we just returned to the Research Center with it this evening.  Tomorrow, we will examine the body. We are told we will receive the results of the DNR’s autopsy eventually.  These things take time. We look forward to getting their report.

We are planning to have Jason mounted by one of Minnesota’s top taxidermists.  We want to honor Jason’s life in a way that will continue educating people about bears.  He represents the challenges some cubs face for survival.  His cuteness at two and a half months and 4 pounds should help endear bears to people and may help save the lives of other bears.

Tomorrow, we’ll catch up  on emails, learn what the media is saying, and see what more we can learn by examining Jason’s body.