Weekly Soiree Sunday November 22nd

Evening/Morning all:  Back from several hours with creaky daughter, whose horse (the garden ornament since he's too old and arthriticky to ride) is on the mend for now and probably in better shape than his owner.

AQ:  You have two daughters getting married next year, right? If #2 is "Miss Bossy Bride," what is Bride #1?   :-) }  Thanks for looking up "Rowan."   I wonder if the ducklings were following Mother Duckling and fell down the drain somewhere where she couldn't fit.

OG: Good luck with the designer.

Gary: Hope OH doesn't have too many migraines - my Mum used to be flat out with them for a day or so (don't think they knew as much about them back then).

Congrats on whatever rugby match it was that came out so well! :-)   Not at all organized for Christmas; barely organized for Txgiving.

AQ: Your secret is safe with me (and everyone else on the blog!)  :-))))

Up later than usual, but it's 7a.m. UK time and on the New Forest cam there's a fox making a meal out of a deer carcass. Not everyone's cup of tea, but..... http://newforestgateway.org/Wildcam/LiveCameras/tabid/117/Default.aspx

Another gorgeous picture of Dillon what a lovelty dog he is.

Weather really rough here this mornng, gale force winds, rain and just generally nasty.  Have to be thankful for small mercies though after watching a lot of coverage about Cumbria over the weekend.  I hope none of our bloggers have been affected.  I just feel so sad for all the people that will not get back into their homes for months and months now.  It seems also that some people have no insurance because there is such a huge excess to pay because they live in an area prone to flooding.  One man said there was a £20,000 excess so he didn't insure.  Seems all wrong somehow.

Hi everybody!  We had a lovely cool day here today, but only a very light shower, unfortunately.  Victoria grabbed our share of the rain. Yes, I did clean the windows again, but not ash this time - more mud!  We had strong winds over the last couple of days, and DUST!!!! Then we got a light showe of what had started out as rain, but landed as mud.  I've cleaned the windows, but the outside of the house is fithy.  Dust is through the house everywhere again!  Living out here has cured me of being an obsessive housekeeper, I can tell you! 

AQ, those galahs seem to have found a lovely nesting spot in that palm tree.  They'll have close neighbours, too.  I can see at least one other nest hole.  The galahs are back with us now, too.  They gather together in a large, noisy but joyful flock of well over a hundred in the evenings at the morment, calling to each other and greeting others like long lost friends.  These gatherings are part of mating rituals, i think.  They certainly check each other out, with lots of areal displays and wing touching, etc. Lots of them pair up and fly off together.  Galahs are reputed to mate for life, so this flocking together is probably reuniting pairs who have not seen each other for many months, as well as bringing together young, unpaird birds.  It's a wonderful, happy event, and I just stand and watch them circling overhead.

I spent most of the day working on my annual personalised parchment craft Christmas decorations for each of my granddaughters.  I don't seem to get much time for parching lately, but these are a must, as are parchment cards for my nearest and dearest.  It used to be for everybody on my card list, but i\I've reverted to bought cards for most of the list now.  Each card takes an average of 2 days to work, so it's very time consuming.

I don't think I'll talk about Rugby Union, thanks!  ;-)  Well done, Scotland!  We'll just have to settle for 8 wins out of the 9 matches, won't we?

Hope the flood situation in the UK continues to improve, although it's a real shame about the damaged and lost bridges.  Hope everyone is well and happy.

Caerann hope your cold does not turn into something hasty.  We could so with some of your sun here,  I can hear my birds singing but in the rain and very high winds.  I am amazed at how resilient wild birds are.  Sparrows are so tiny but do not seem to get blown off course.  Hope you are feeling better soon.  Take care of yourself.

Here are some pictures of the flooding and the severe problems it caused in Cumbria, North West England taken by residents provided by the local BBC Radio Cumbria station. Also Caerann and Gary, you could try the 'listen live' button to see if you can get the sound in the US, as we have found out that our TV is blocked. If you can get radio all is not lost, since I could post any interesting nature/bird programmes in the future. Also if you have a WiFi internet radio you will know that you can pick up many, but not all stations world-wide. I have Radio Cumbria playing in the kitchen, at the moment, although I am in Surrey, south of London and also I listened to New Zealand National radio, yesterday, for news of the icebergs approaching their country.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/cumbria/hi/front_page/newsid_8369000/8369927.stm

Happy Monday.  Thanks AQ for the story of the lovely man rescuing the ducklings- good job they were in a SA drain and not a drain in Cumbria or Dumfries!  "Normal" rain here overnight (not huge volumes) but nasty winds with it.  Calmer now, dry with some sunshine.  Wattle - plaesed you are safe from fires and have some relief from the heat - sorry about the dust/mud, hope there will be more rain soon (but not too much!)

Designer came - huge apologies, trying to reprogramme all the men this week and "finally" finish!  "Finally" actually means "as far as possible" because some replacements are still on order!  He has promised we won't have to pay for the time people have spent putting things right - I negotiated by dangling the carrot of the next project!  He said he was horrified when he sat down and looked at the days not worked at all in the five weeks so far!  Plumber "promised" for this afternoon ... ... should have had the electrician this morning but his mother is in hospital ... ... watch this space ... ... again!

Morning all I haven't been blogging as nothing much has been happening and the terrible weather we've been having has meant that you couldn't  get any where unless you had web feet.

In Saturday's Scotsman there was an interesting article about the Sea Eagles that were released in Fife some months ago as four of them have been found dead, 2 by trains and 2 by electrocution, and one of the theory's put forward is that because they did not have parents to show them the ropes they just did not know the dangers of certain things. They also said because the birds on the west coast are now being brought up by adult birds they have a better chance of surviving.

Going to visit son in Forres this weekend so I hope the weather is a bit better and will be able to go and see some of the wildlife up there, Usually when there my weekend is mapped out for me and I am told where I am going.