Hi, all. Welcome to a new week!
Brenda: Hamish is fine, still not 100% on the right forepaw so we will see what the vet says tomorrow. We did not over exercise him on holiday.
Cirrus : Welcome back.Hoe you had a nice holiday.
OG: Thanks for the pics of the herring gull and rock pipit?
Another pic from the cottage. A nuthatch this time:
Lynette - I hope I have remembered the right person with the right pic of cat! Was it Pebbles that you posted a few days ago? I meant to say at the time that I bet she looked comical as a kitten with that white smudge on her face. Both lovely cats.
When is Margo back? I hope Billie is there to greet her when she returns as I bet she's never been far from her mind.
The walk was good - very windy with the odd shower. Then about 2 minutes from the car when I had my weatherproof coat tied round my waist as I was too warm a sudden downpour caught us out. I couldn't get the coat on fast enough! We were drenched by the time we reached the car. Mia had got very muddy digging in mole hills etc and needed a wash when we got home so she had her warm outside shower while I had another soaking in another downpour! We've just been sat watching the Grand Prix which I do enjoy but I got too comfortable and as usual nodded off. I'm terrible for that
Better do some HW now. OH's just nipped to the supermarket to get some bits.
BTW the weather seems to have settled the bees down. this morning we still had a few buzzing round the apple tree but they aren't there now. They were very active round the hive next door too with a mass of them on the floor under the hive and loads crawling up the legs but they seem to have settled now. Unless of course they have swarmed again....
Feeding time right now- still only 1 little Bobble
Ironing pile halved, so time for a coffee break (except it is hot chocolate!)
Tiger – thanks for the new thread for Pale Male. I guess Pale Male’s lack of successful hatching must have been a fertility problem with Lola – unless the current female has been cheating on him!
Lindy – re new format: pasting from Word requires an extra step, and uploading photos is less straight forward, especially as it tells me max height of photo is zero! I agree PM exchange is very good and a big a step forward, but general appearance is probably my biggest gripe – small print and unnecessary “arty” background which seems to take up more space that the old one!
Cirrus – welcome back! How did you manage to centre your message? Finding list of threads is a click on Forum at top of page as before (this and other navigation is explained by the map Tiger pointed to earlier, which you thanked him for!) It is AQ not Annette going to Europe – sets off this Tuesday SA time (I think). Pale Male’s success is with a new Mrs. Hawk – I am confused myself about her name, he’s had a few since Lola! I’m looking forward to your holiday stories and photos – especially Herring Gull(?).
Alan – more positive thoughts for Hamish at the vet tomorrow. Another excellent photo – your Nuthatch.
Trish – I think it must be today that Margo returns – probably expect a post from her about eleven o’clock in the morning. I expect this small font will be difficult for her eyes – I know you can enlarge it, but that’s a nuisance when you are swapping between sites. Pleased you enjoyed the walk despite the weather and ultimate downpour – and Mia’s shower! Glad the Bee problem seems to have subsided. Going to be a considerable size difference between Bobblehead #1 and the others – but he/she was quite an early arrival, it’s not that they are late!
Returning to ironing now – and OH is cleaning shower rooms due to non-appearance of cleaner – he already did kitchen and will vacuum everywhere, so I might pick up a duster and do what I can reach!
Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!
Oh Annette Delilah is delightful! She's clearly going to be a great charmer.
Yes it was Pebbles, Trish, and then posted pic of Misty, they are sisters. Pebbles looks a lot slimmer because she has part siamese in her - thats probably why she bleats away when she sees my dau and wants making a fuss over.
Alan - glad Hamish is coming along but I suppose with that kind of problem it does take time.
End of Festival Week in local village where I go to church. Morris Men were strutting their bit so to speak.
http://scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/things-to-do/wildlife-webcams/loch-of-lowes/
RSPB Giving Nature a Home
enough for now.
A little about my week on Dartmoor.
It’s less than two hours drive away – amazing ! Weather good all week with one misty morning making the hike that day nicely spooky all morning (it cleared up in the afternoon). It’s wonderful being on the ‘roof of the world’ with very little people traffic and very beautiful in an isolated and desolate way. (She grins). The Moor is inundated with Willow Warbles and Cuckoos. I kid you not. I reckon it’s the Willow Warblers that will be raising Cuckoos this year. May those that do have at least five Cuckoo free years.
And I’m almost 100% positive that I’ve heard Cirl Buntings. I mentally remembered the song passionately until I got home and could hear their song on the RSPB bird page. No, didn’t see them, sigh. But just to hear them was a wonderful thing.
We had one totally clear night sky. Friday. What an amazing sight. Being an amateur astronomer (well, that’s a bit grand, but you know what I mean. I mean, I have an intense interest in stars and the cosmos ). I dismantled my telescope because I thought I was leaving Bristol but that’s not to be for a while and now; because of such light pollution locally I am just not motivated to struggle to put it back up BUT (Tiger) this autumn I am joining the local astronomical society and thank you for your help in locating them. Where was I? Oh yes, the one totally clear night sky on Dartmoor (You see, our accommodation was on the high moor, just below Haytor) was a joy to my heart. Even my ‘’couldn’t care less about stars’’ (but excellent) hiking friend was astonished at the view. And I explained that if it had not been for places like distant Bovey Tracy and Newton Abbot even the skirts of the heavens would have been laden with stars. A blackness so black and dark with myriads and myriads and myriads of stars and planets. If we had been high enough, we would have seen the nebulae gasses too. And I was reminded of a long standing mountaineering friend of mine saying that up in the Himalayas it’s possible to read by starlight. What a remarkable thing. And yet for all that, don’t you know, the starry heaven is filled with blackness and empty spaces where the view of stars should be, because: the galaxies outside of our local cluster of galaxies are moving away from us at such speed that the light from the billions of stars in them will never have time to reach Earth.
We hiked on average 11 miles a day. With terrain (as Sharon would say). These days it’s always Sharon who breasts the height first and is able (easily) to power walk up steeps that have two arrows on the Ordnance survey map . (One arrow indicates steep, and two arrows indicates b…….. steep , OK?)
We arrived home each evening, mostly shattered. What a wonderful thing red wine is. Restorative. Oh yes, it is that. And we had some wonderful meals together – roast potatoes, lamb steaks, veggies and real gravy. Oh yes, we worked well in the kitchen together . And we had our baths as soon as we got in and spent the rest of the evening in our pjs . The one local pub (hotel) we ‘’did’’ early on and since it was an up hill walk back we decided it wasn’t an attractive enough proposition to do twice. Plus, of course, we had catered for red and sparkling wine.
Sorry to hear about your drenching Trish but at least you’re free of the bees :)
I just didn’t use ‘’use rich formatting’’ OG .Typed my post in the narrow bit of Reply and hit Reply.
Great looking Nuthatch Alan – you are obviously not using the camera on your mobile phone !
Wonderful pictures of the Morris dancers Lynette
Ah, OG that explains that. Thanks for sorting me out.
Dartmoor ponies ( of which there are lots and lots ) . Dunno how I managed to make the brown one into a coloured jigsaw!
Herring Gulls OG stlyle but without her skill or equipment (we had a half day at Brixham so we could play the tourist - which means winkles, ice cream, and chish and fips out of the paper)