Evening/Morning all: This week should bring more interesting news about Mallachie. Check the last few entries of the previous Weekly Chat for another photo of Queenie and other input from bloggers!
Hope you all got your clocks, microwaves, coffee pots, TVs, etc., organized for the next six months. And when did BST replace GMT, at least in the summer. In the US, standard and daylight savings time have had a long and fascinating (and apparently often confusing) history, given that we have three times zones for the contiguous states. DST is another matter, with most states changing but some not, but at least we don't have 30 minute increments like they do in Australia!
TerryM: The GE Help window is pretty clear re tours. I do recall that it took several "clicks" to get the thing started. Other folks commented on that and I had the same experience in the beginning but then it was okay. I tried to copy and paste some of the info onto your page, but it included boxes with images and they didn't copy. I'm sure other folks will have more helpful info. Good luck. Too bad lovely Queenie isn't around any more. When my daughter and I were away the other week, we stayed at a place which is a favorite "drop off" spot for folks wanting to "lose" cats. They had three cats when we were there, which hung around the garden entrance to the dining room waiting to be fed (by the staff). One night, the cats were served prime rib, all nicely chopped up for easy digestion!!!!
Alan: So. Are you treating us all to a trip to Loch Garten next year with your lottery winnings or will we be depending on the webcam again? :-)
Gary: Dying to hear about your English food outing (what was it really like?)
OG: We grow tomatoes outside here but my friends who do often fence them and other veggies in to keep various critters, including deer, from snacking on them; not to mention snails. My sister has expressed some frustration with EU rules - specifically not being able to buy French cheese off a market stall (I think that was it). Is following EU rules a bore or do you think it's generally for the good?
Alan:
Not sure if you get National Geographic Magazine but I just received the November issue and they have an article on Kingfishers with absolutely to-die-for photos. FAB! =O)
Hi, all. Have had the flu, but wanted to stop in and say hello. Too much has gone on to comment to everyone!
Caerann: Turkey vultures are very common here. We often see them soaring above our woods. My Dad yells at them when they circle the house. LOL They are beautiful in flight, but not so much in person.
aquilareen: I loved the Markhor and Bharal photos. I have the Markhor on my desktop right now. I would love to have a goat sanctuary. They are great creatures. I'm crazy about them!
Wattle: Who knew you were a CB pirate!?! I laughed heartily when I read that. I'll bet you had a great big ol' illegal linear amp, didn't you?! My Dad was into CB, and eventually became a HAM operator. He always liked CB best, though. I remember well the end of skip. Your post brought back memories. 10-4 good buddy. And Caerann, you, too!!!
Lindybird: Your dog whistle story was hilarious.
Annette: Hope your drive all over "heck and creation" was productive. Sometimes it's nice to just chill out and watch the telly. I hope the new kitchen is proving to be all you had hoped. I looked at flooring on the web tonight. Have no idea what to put down in this house, but this ragged carpet has got to go!!! This house is under really tall old-growth trees and near a burn/creek, so it is always damp in here. I'm going to have to be careful about what I install on these floors to avoid my house becoming a mold-growth experiment that Darwin would be proud of.
Hope everyone has a pleasant week.
Oh geez. Just typed a response and lost the connection. Will have to start copying stuff before I click and risk maybe losing it.
Caerann: Just got the Nat. Geo. and saw the cover blurb on Kingfishers. I'm still reading the Redwood article in the previous issue. Amazing trees, especially the old growth trees at - what - 300 plus feet (more than 90 metres) and 1,500 years old?
Diane: Good to see you. Hope you and Dad are doing better. So what are you considering for the floor? Wood is lovely; carpeting is warm and quiet. FYI, the This Old House website has some good consumer-oriented info on flooring, among other things.
I spent the last half hour reading the Owner's Manual for the new microwave. I'll have to highlight the important bits and put stickies on the pages. Then it's the dishwasher manual; then the convection oven manual. Who knows. I may have it figured out by Christmas.
Turkey vultures are common here too. Off to get snack and then sleep. Have a nice morning all.
Annette: I lost everything I was going to post this morning while I was running the spell-check over it! It's a real pain when that happens, isn't it? You were asking about an Aussie HAM radio operator assisting an Apollo mission: Something of the kind does ring a faint bell with me, but it might only be the power of suggestion. however, it is true that HAM and CB operators have assisted many times the world over in search and rescue operations at sea and on other continents by relaying messages picked up using 'skip' back to appropriate help close to the the distress call.
Caerann and Dianne: We tended not to use the '10 code', preferring plain English in all its delightful accents! About the only time we used code at all was when we were inviting responses from distant stations; 'CQ,CQ, CQ DX. This is Tango Lima 133, Sydney Australia, calling CQ DX and standing by.'
We didn't use a big amplifier, either. We had a Kenwood radio with 'ALL' the frequencies, and a 5 element YAGI beam aerial. We couldn't push any power, because we lived slap bang in the middle of a caravan park, with TVs all around us! If we got a complaint made to the authorities by anyone, we would have been shut down and slapped with a heavy fine, so we used quality of signal rather than power.
Smiles, Jan.
Morning, Everyone. Rained here, for a while! The garden needs it, and the birds. Cleaned out bird bath yesterday, and its been enjoyed by lots of starlings this morning: its true, they do like it to be clean, with no leaves in, which is not easy at this time of year as they're falling all around now. Now its brightening up in the sky, and showing off the lovely colours of the leaves which are still attached. We can see a lot of really old oaks from our windows, and they are always the last to fall. So majestic! Interested to hear about those really old trees in earlier post.
Diane: Sorry to hear you had the flu, its truly horrible and takes a long time for you to get over, after, too.
Gary: Glad to hear you enjoyed cottage pie. My father lived in the States in his teens, and so also had the habit of enjoying his Yorkshires with jam or golden syrup poured over, which is rather frowned upon here where they are only served 'savoury'.
Had a good morning out yesterday, here is a photo of our dog (no longer Dog-on-a-Diet, as he has lost the weight! ) enjoying the Mere at Astbury in Cheshire:
DRAT! My new camera doesnt seem to agree with the system here, & it won't 'translate' or whatever.
Here is one of the Mere:
The leaves here are only just beginning to turn, as I think they are protected by the hills around.
Hoping for more good news of our osprey girls, later.
Lindybird: Congratulations to Dog-no-longer-on-a-diet! (Despite Auntie's digestive biscuit!) Can he give me any tips?!!! Look forward to a photo when you can overcome the incompatibility problem.
Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!
Dog says "Don't eat so many dog biscuits at lunchtime, and cut out the bread thrown down for the ducks, at the lakeside..." , OG.
Couldn't put on my pics of the swans, or even the deer in Tatton Park last weekend, so annoying!
Congrats to Dog not on a diet anymore, Lindybird:) That must have been tough to ignor the imploring looks.
OG, how is the work coming alone today?
Diane, sorry you aren't feeling well, not nice. Good luck with the flooring! How about fake wood! When we moved a while ago our house had lots of trees close to it and we took them down to get some light in. Made a huge difference. However they were about 70/80 ft high and had to go out when they were doing them, didn't want to be in the house when they hit the ground!! Luckily they fell where the guys wanted them to.
Annette, talking about trees, I went to the Redwood State park (I'm sure it isn't called that) in California and saw those wonderful trees. What an experience, just walking around in the quiet with those huge trees. Incredible.
Enjoyed all the chat, sorry if I have missed stuff. I had no idea about all the CB/HAM stuff. Very interesting.
Just watching our barn cat "Pud" chase his tail. He must be about 12 now (he "came" with the house when we purchased it 2 years ago). He sleeps most of the time but every now and then he has a mad 5 minutes!
This is "Pud" :)
Morning/Afternoon All!
Gary: What a gorgeous cat! I love his coloring, really distinctive.
Lindybird: Here is a website you can peruse to look up info about Redwood Trees:
www.redwoods.info
And for Sequoia Trees which are a different type of tree:
http://www.yosemite-tours.com/giant_sequoia_tours_in_yosemite.htm
Annette: I love Nat'l Geo Magazine, it's always so interesting. I didn't know until reading the article that Redwoods put on more wood as they age. I hope to see them in person someday and the Sequoias too. You have been to both, yes?
Diane: Good to see you back!