Weekly Chat, Sunday September 20, 2009

Gosh, just come back from the hairdressers (she does it at her home for me) to find all sorts happening in my absence. Rothes is still going to surprise us all, I'm sure.

Sunny & bright here today, but the laundry hung forlornly on the line & didn't blow about.

Dog-on-a-diet is looking really sad, and desperate for a bit of toast, so of course he got some when his beloved Dad was out; now we look at each other conspiratorily when Dad comes back- however, note that although its me who gives in, and also incidentally gives him most of his meals, dog still prefers the alpha male in the house.

Alan:  sounds like a very pleasant way to spend an autumn day- I've never seen one of those tiny deer, they look really sweet on TV.

Have a good weekend, everybody.

-- Heard a good saying on the radio today -

"If you meet someone who hasn't a smile, why not give them one of yours?"

Lindybird

That's a lovely saying ... will remember that one ... thanks for sharing :))

LOL Annette. Glad you enjoyed the programme:)

Been a lovely day here. Sunny but breezy. Did nether crazy golf or the water park today as suddenly had some hay delivered for our 4 legged friends so that put a stop to that! Having said that, I checked and the water parks are closed at this time of year so golf it is!!  And talking of food(!) we went to lunch at a diner today (one I've never been to )and mum ordered a couple of pancakes. We were told to only have one as they droop over side so we did. It was HUGE. The biggest I have ever seen. It was 13 inches across!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's funny about your dog Lindybird. Is it working, the diet?

Sat 9.45 am, cold blustery wind, currently 11.6 C (53 F). There was me shivering earlier as I picked some rhubarb to trade with a friend who is bringing me a butternut pumpkin. Actually I don’t mind the cooler weather. Weather man last night suggested that to see the snow that we should traipse up to Mount Lofty at 3 am to see a few flakes. As if. . .

Cirrus. It was Wattle who had the mud-rain. In Adelaide we have been having sort of dust-rain. The red dust has spread north to Queensland, and over the sea to New Zealand !!! Lucky NZers getting their gardens top-dressed! I read this morn that one of our SA reservoirs is 94% filled. It last overflowed in 2005. News just in – a second dust storm in NSW’s south-west today. Not as serious, they say (except for asthmatics, etc).

Annette. I gave up paid-work when I had kids and then volunteered at school & various places. Now a small group of us who are interested in the early history of SA gather in State Library on Wed’s to research (& natter over lunch). We collect names, basic info & sources (such as whalers, gold diggers, land purchases, missing persons, deserters, etc) and place the info on our webpage for local & family historians who cannot easily get to library/archives because of distance, health or full-time work. I have several projects on the go at once and often do an extra day. Feeling a wee bit weary after 3 days out this week – now I have to data enter my findings (when I have checked all my bird sites LOL)

Good morning all!  I pressed the wrong key a while ago and lost al that I'd just typed and was about to post, so here goes again!  Now I can respond to Aquilareen's post too!  ;-)

When I post this is should be about 11.15 am  on Saturday where I am.  I'm 30 minutes ahead of Aquilareen.  I woke up this morning to 7 degrees C.  Now it's 10 degrees, and not expected to go much above 11 degrees today.  Before the cold fronts which brought the dust storms, I was waking to 17 degrees, with temps reach nearly 30 degrees in the afternoons.  With the chill factor of the wind, it really feals like back to winter!

As AQ has said, the winds came up again yesterday and continued through the night, so Sydney got another 'dusting' today.  Not as bad as the first one though, and it too will blow over to NZ.  Topsoil must be our biggest export to them at the moment!  ;-)  Despite knowing that there was a second dust storm expected in Sydney, water restrictions there have been relaxed so they can wash all the nasty dust away, the poor dears!  Now there is uproar because they have worked out that some of this dust must come from areas around Woomera, where early atomic testing was once done, so may be radioactive.  Funny how this is only a worry now the dust is going east over he mountains!

DQ, it sounds as though I should be talking to you! ;-)  I've been trying to find out what became of my paternal grandfather, who was a very conspicuous member of the SA Labor Party during WW1, and I can't find any mention of him after 1931 electoral rolls.  Did you say you have a webpage where you post your researched information?  Doing our family tree is taking up a LOT of my time this year.

Heads up on east coast U.S. (Gary this means you.) I've obtained a website showing raptor bird counts (ie migration) in the U.S. through another birder forum I belong to. The Osprey count for Vermont so far in the month of September is 105 birds so I'm assuming at least a few of them will pass over your residence, Gary.   =O)

Also, if one looks at the count for Militia Hill which is in Pennsylvania,  their daily count for Broad-winged Hawks today is 1,577 and yes, that is one day. Yowza! At another site in Pennsylvania there were 688 hawks of the same kind in one day so they must be on the move, at least in that part of the country.

I'm posting the link in case anyone else is curious about raptor movements in the U.S; it's quite interesting:

http://www.birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/HAWK.html#1253923766

Also, the Derby Peregrines are home tonight, or this morning in the U.K in case anyone is up late or early enough to see them, although it's only 8:15 p.m. Chicago time. On Wednesday one of the birds was sleeping right up against the camera, it was simply adorable once I could figure out what the heck I was looking at.     =O)

Hi everyone. It's 8:30 p.m. in California. All appliances but one installed today - electrical hookup for oven wasn't right and trim around cabinet was 1/4" too tight, so phone messages left for the folks responsible. Washer and dryer in and make wonderfully gentle "dingy" noises to denote various cycles. So quiet after the noisy beasts we had before!

AQ: Your "job" sounds fascinating. I love local history and the history of the U.S's Western states is so recent, it's as if the main characters have only just left the scene, as if the saloon doors are still swinging. I hadn't realized that this part of California belonged to Mexico until 1850, when gold was discovered up north and the U.S. government decided to grab the land. All over the southern half of the state are old ranchos that were originally owned by Mexican families and operated as cattle ranches up until California became part of the U.S. It's a long story, but suffice to say very few of them managed to hang on to their land. I used to give tours of Rancho Los Cerritos in Long Beach when I lived in that area, and did a story on the largest ranchos - well, the adobes (houses), not the land - still existing in the Southern California area when I was editor for the Auto Club magazines. The past here is so "present" compared to Europe's, which is what gives the place - and maybe the whole country - a feeling of immediacy, urgency, energy...

Wattle: Mud rain vs dust rain. What an option!  Sounds like the radioactive dust may be kicking off the NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) phenomenon.

Gary: Hope you've recovered from the pancake that ate Connecticut and that Mom and four-legged friends are doing well.

Caerann: Thanks for the link to the U.S. raptors.

Lindybird: Hope doggy is surviving without treats. ;-(  Maybe try one of those smiles on him?

GE hasn't updated for me yet. Wonder where Rothes will head to next. Wouldn't it be nice if she met up with Mallachie?