Weekly Chat, Sunday September 13, 2009

sounds lovely Annette

I'm off now so catch up tomorrow

Margobird: I am blessed and honored to be surrounded by so much wildlife. I made a vow to my late Mom and to myself that I would always protect this land and its birds and animals. The wildlife seems to have bonded with me. The wrens always come to me and sing, to let me know when they've returned in the spring. The hummingbirds are friendly, and the two Great Horned Owls hoot at me and hang around. Even the 5-foot-long black snake comes around for a chat once in a while. :-)

DIANE, yes I check looduskalender regularly. Such weird and wonderful mushrooms there - nothing like the boring white ones that keep popping up in our lawn. I don't know if ours are edible. On the farm we had a clump of trees about 1/4 mile from the house that Mum harvested. Woe betide any passing motorists who stopped to pick them. Mum would round up kids, buckets and we would sail forth to defend our land (and mushrooms).

Cool day with a few showers. Just as well, as this morn I bought tomato, chard, perpetual lettuce, basil, parsley seedlings to install in my wee vegie patch. Sorry Mr Blackbird, but I need this space for the next few months! Vegie patch gets smaller each year as the arthritic knees object to digging. Anyway with water restrictions, it is not easy to water everything. Last summer I bailed the rinse water out of my washing machine and spread buckets of water around various plants - wow they loved the attention.

Hey Diane/AQ: Sounds like you guys are doing well. I had lunch with a friend who gave me some heirloom tomatoes from her garden; got some fresh cheese from the deli where we ate, basil, and opened the Cabernet my granddaughter brought us - yum!

AQ: What's your normal rainfall and how low is it this year? We were doing that (using gray water) back in the 70s in LA during a bad drought. Our water usage dropped by more than 50 percent last month - the result of sheet mulching our entire lawn and parking strip. Come the end of October/November, we'll start putting in some drought tolerant shrubs, etc., and gradually build from there over the next year. Spending hours on the computer checking out various options,. No veggie patch on my list yet..

Diane: What kind of hummingbirds do you get in Indiana? I guess they must be getting ready to leave pretty soon?

Diane: Yes indeed (per yours) did see about Mary Travers. Oh dear. That's getting much too close. One of my favorites was "Don't think twice - that's alright."

Hi Annette /  Diane / AQ.  Love your morning/night chat.  Makes me realise that we are quite lucky here (in SE England) with our (so far) temperate climate.   I never water the garden as I  like to teach my plants to dig deep with their roots to get the moisture they need. 

Annette: When you mentioned "Don't think twice - it's alright" I was transported to my youth.  Can't even read the title without starting to sing it - for someone who suffers from periodic senior moments, I seem to remember most of the words!

Back to Ospreys:  No new updates so far on R & M.   I'm also following Roy's birds and their amazing migrations - although 2 haven't set off yet and are still in Scotland. 

Diane what a lovely post from you.  I think wildlife knows when they are somewhere safe and I am so glad you have bonded with them.  I have special patio for all my bird baths and feeders and get immense pleasure from watching them which I am able to do as I have been retired for nearly 4 years now.  I love all animals even down to spiders who at this time of the year weave wonderful webs which glisten away in the morning dew.  Obviously I belong to the RSPB together with other organisations who protect animals.  IMy husband and I have adopted a donkey each at the Donkey Sanctuary in Devon, Busby and Timothy who are gorgeous and such gentle craatures.  The Sanctuary takes in donkeys who have been ill treated or relinquished by their owners when they can lo longer care for them.  Some of the stories are sad but there is much happiness there as well.   I also belong to Monkey World where they rescue primates some of whom have had a terrible life up until the time they have been rescued.  I will never get to grips with aninals cruelty.  there is so much of it going on in the world and it breaks my heart sometimes when I see what has happened to some animals.  The other organisation I belong to  is Wildlife Aid.  They rescue sick, injured or abandoned animals such as badgers and fox cubs etc but they really do rescue anything with the promise that it will be returned to the wild once it has recovered.  Of course there are times when animals cannot be put badk into the wild but these are put in a safe sanctuary where they will live a fairly natural life.

Lastly but by no means least I absolute adore ospreys and the wonderful family we had this year brought such joy to my life while they were with us.  I am praying and keeping everything crossed that Rothes and Mallachie have successful migration.  I spent a lot of time in tears last year when dear Deshar failed and Nethy dissappeared although hoping that perhaps her satellite tag came off.

Sorry for my ramlbings but is so nice to see so many people who love wild life as much as they do.  Where would we be without them.  Have a good day when it arrives.

Below are links to to the Donkey Sanctuary and SOS Wildlife Aid, which I hope you might be interested in.

http://drupal.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/

http://www.wildlifeaid.org.uk/

morning all and it is lovely to see/read all the passion everyone has for animals/birds etc.

In Connecticut we are lucky to have a temperate climate as well. I hate gardening so no vegetable patch at my place I confess!

Morning! Very early here at almost 4 a.m. Tummy rumbling; may be forced to go rustle up a bowl of cereal before I fall back asleep.

Flying C:/Margobird: Good to read you posts. Re senior moments, that's only for the recent past - I could bore my grandchildren by singing all the words to Peter, Paul, and Mary's songs. Sigh. But wasn't it Carol King who sang "These are the good old days"  in Anticipation? Boy, had better go back to sleep soon or will be too far down memory lane to get any zzzzs before the trash truck roars up the road at 7.

I have birdbaths too, but garden in something of disarray as contractors using patio for cutting tile/wood/you-name-it. Put one birdbath on top of hot tub for time being (which we never use - was here when we bought the house) and spied our cat slurping up the water the other day. What a nerve! She likes to lay (lie??) under the birdfeeder, which has also been relocated temporarily, and spoil birdies' digestion by staring up at them. Thing is, the feeder is now balanced on top of old wooden ladder but cat is too clueless to realize she might possibly be able to climb it., which is why - I tell my husband - we rule the world and cats don't. Not sure if that's a good thing or not!

Back later to check on osprey progress!