Weekly Chat, Sunday November 8

Morning Lindybird.  My sister has a beautful springer spaniel who is terrified of fireworks so for the past 2 weeks he has been sleeping in his basket in their bedroom, despite all the hairs.  Imrovement continues but it has been a terrible 2 weeks pain wise.  Must try to keep upright in future.

Morning, All.  (Hi Margobird, if youre still there...)   Happy Torsdag, Caerann!

Sunny & bright here this morning, but heavy rain forecast later so must go out soon before it starts. The garden is already very damp, & wet leaves are sticking everywhere, nearly fell over going to the washing line! Don't want to match your bruises, Margobird!  Bought some little 'ballet' type shoes by mail, it described them as having little nodules on the soles to help traction, but must write to the company, as actually I find them pretty lethal, and slipperier that my slippers. Good job I only wear them in the house.

Loved your pic of Goldfinch, by the way, Alan.  Gary:  I do nearly all the shop in this house, as OH hates it & only goes when absolutely necessary.  Must admit, I'm a sucker for the Buy 1 Get 1 Free, and consequently have large stocks of some pretty weird things. Not as bad as a friend of mine who has a thing about running out of toilet rolls, though- she has an entire cupboard full of them!!!!

dibnlib:  Lovely story about Fingal digging- some dogs do love to do that, don't they.  Buzz just rucks up the grass with boisterous play, he doesn't dig, thank goodness.  Interesting about the Falklands penguins.

OG:  You sound as if you're on the 'home straight' with the alterations, hope it all looks nice now. That Whooper Swan sounds as if its pretty amazing, suppose they are quite strong birds but what a journey.

AQ:  Liked the interesting pic of the Galah- we don't get things like that on the bus here. That sounds more than just HOT- wow.  The little crosses at the memorial looked very moving: thanks for description of what goes on where you are.

Annette:  Perhaps you could play the piano instead of doing laundry, sounds more preferable to me! (If I could only play, would love to boo hooo!!)

Off now on shopping mission on foot, mustn't buy too much or can't carry it all back again. Have a good day, All.

Both went into the wetroom this morning, having left it for the grouting to "go off" or whatever grouting has to do.  Had to phone project manager with problems so not feeling very happy at present.  Mosaic tiles in actual shower alcove look wavy, and one is definitely out of kilter, giving an "edge" in the floor - he says it can be fixed - heigh-ho, will it then be fully waterproof?  Tiler has somehow pulled apart the new ceiling fan - which was connected and fully working - exposing wiring, so he is to be asked for an explanation (he should not have needed to touch it!) and Sparky is to fix it if he can, or a replacement will have to be ordered.  We also discovered that due to various misunderstandings the mirror cabinet will not be right, so another one is now on order!  OH is less disappointed because he asked about the old cystern overflow outlet and has the go-ahead to  pull it out the wall because the new one will be integral via the pan.

Whinge over - very therapeutic being able to let off steam here (appropriate for a bathroom!)

Afternoon all,

It is a much better day on TI and I had hoped to get some more pictures of the goldfinch in better light but unfortunately it has not been around today. There has been lots of starlings on the feeders today.

I have had to remain at home today and await the plumber as our central heating has gone off. The radiators went cold yesterday and I think the pump overheated so maybe we need a new pump. No sign of him so far but luckily it is milder today.

Weather on TI: Temp 10.6c , Wind S 10mph , Visibility 25kms , Pressure 1000hPa Falling.

Sorry about the problems OG, what a pain. Still, it would have been a miracle if the project had gone off without a hitch (I'm sure that is no comfort at all though..) Good job you have a project manager to beat up the contractors for you. Keep pushing on and think of the end result.

Sorry about your heating as well Alan. No good time for that to happen. Hope the plumber comes soon

Got a little cough today so maybe the beginings of a "man cold".....

hi there aquilareen

poor you with those high temperatures. think i would have to find a whole in the ground and hibernate for the summer!!!!  for me being a scot 22 degrees is nice but not much more. remember in shetland walking round the loch in t shirt and shorts( it had reached a high of 16 degrees which for us was rare. someone came towards us dressed in so many layers he looked like a michelin man. we stopped to talk. turned out he was from the isle of white where they had temps of 32 degrees but he was happy to be up with us.

Nice pooch story

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6913626.ece

Gary an amazing story about the dog. Just finished catching up with all the blogs as I had the builder in yesterday taking the gas fire out and blocking up the holes. Watched the programme about the rays last night and how they were finding out more about them by tagging them although it was more difficult than tagging ospreys. I am not being racist but they think that rays are becoming rarer because they are catching them because they are used in chinese medicine  just as tigers are being poached for the same reason and sharks are being caught for their fins.

I have 3or 4 goldfinches come into my garden but can't get close enough to photograph them. Everybody look after yourselves as it looks as if we are going to have another few wet and windy days in the UK and  Austraila is going to be unbearably hot although Calafornia seems to be quite nice. Why can't we be like the birds and flit about the world going where the weather suits our different needs? I wish

Hi everyone. Nice cloudy day here,but still comparatively warm.

OG: You're so right about autumn sun - it's more golden and softer than at other times, when it can have a harsh, glittering quality. The one bad thing about the fall/winter sun is that it comes in at a lower angle and shows dust I hadn't noticed before!   I had my Long Beach kitchen counter retiled by someone with a drinking or other problem and it ended up looking like the Devil's Causeway. The head contractor tried to tell me that the uneveness would help "channel" the water into the sink better!  Hallo? Do I have "gullible" stamped on my forehead?  I threw a fit and another tiler redid the job perfectly. I imagine having the tile smoothed out shouldn't affect the waterproofness (!)  Not sure about your configuration, but I had my mirror cabinet installed a couple of inches too low, so containers for some moisturizer, etc, that I use regularly are in the way of the cabinet door when I want to open it. One of those "if I were to do it again..." things.

Caerann: Chcolate, vanilla, mint roobois tea sounds very exotic  I'm so unadventurous; just drink plain old tea, the only variation is that sometimes I have half-and-half in it and sometimes not.

Lindybird: I bought the piano from a neighbor in 1996 (used to have one as a kid). I started lessons again in 02, but got sandwiched in between and 8-year-old and an 11-year-old, both of whom played better than I did! Was a bit embarrassing; next time I'll look for someone who works with adults.

Margobird: My daughter tripped over her large dog and landed on his big soft bed - we were joking about putting dog beds all over her apartment to cushion falls. Maybe inflatable furniture too? OK, silly spell over with. :-)

Alan/George: Hope your heating projects go quickly and inexpensively! 

Take care all!