Weekly Chat, Sunday, January 3, 2010!!

  • Thanks Alan I love barn owls in fact I love all owls.  A treat to have sound as well.

    Margobird

  • Tiger - that is the same hummercam but I am looking at it on

    http://cam.dellwo.com/

    which is a slightly bigger pic, and on my computer it loaded more quickly.

    One inch of snow this morning, fairly unusual, we just get a sprinkling which lasts a day or two in February, (or once in May). The snow sweeps off but leaves a hard layer of ice underneath, it took me ages to clear the car for work.

    OG- we only have 3 pairs of blackbirds, but they make so much fuss I don't know how you cope with your loads. We have seen 3 robins recently, and we have many house sparrows who nest in pipes into the roof space (blocked off!) and a few dunnocks, also half a dozen each of blue and great tits. I haven't seen many coal tits for a while, maybe they went down into the town for a little more shelter.

    Alan P - thanks for barn owl, is that the one the hummer bloggers were talking about?

    Terry in Cumbria

  • Evening everyone.  Just a quick post from me this evening as I am now back in work mode and can only catch up once the family have been fed, washing-up done, etc, etc.  Festive parties are well and truly over.  Annette - if you go to Alan Ps page, details of Antiques Roadshow and link are there although I am not sure if you can access the BBC on demand from USA.  I think the expert said that the portrait is an oil painting on top of a photograph and it was valued at £200-£300. Couldn't resist sending the info to Alan and he cleverly captured a screenshot.  Delighted to hear your daughter's surgery went without any complications and loved the Thunder and Lightning story.  We still have plenty of frozen compacted snow on roadsides, gardens, etc but main roads are fairly clear now.  Temp is dropping and light snow is anticipated in Tayside tomorrow but I think we might miss the worst of it.  Hope everyone with heavy snow can stay at home and keep warm and safe.   What a pity that all contact with Mallachie seems lost.  I hope she is safe and hope Rothes can keep transmitting.  It would be great to have data from her at the same time as we have ospreys nesting at LG.  Fingers crossed.  Will look back in again tomorrow evening to catch up.

  • What a strange world this is. There are you all frozen in snow with icy birdbaths. News says schools are closed. Here I went out early to food shop before it got too hot, stocking up on cooking-less food to avoid the stove over the next week (three days of 41 C predicted Sat-Mon). OH's birdbath is deeper (this morning the starlings & pigeons were taking baths) but mine is a plant saucer on the ground in case our skink is still around. Lots of bird footprints in the dust around the saucer and I check it twice a day as it dries out so quickly in the heat. Record harvest yesterday - 5 tomatoes - alas very small, 3 of them an inch across.

    DibnLib - I think I shall be tempted to call them the He Brides too. LOL. English is a funny language. Once meeting someone at the airport, we gave a lift to a German girl to the Grosvenor Hotel. I'm not sure how she would have managed in a taxi as she was asking for the Gross Venor Hotel !!!

    Annette - I found Sue Grafton's B for Burglary at the library. Shelved between Grayson and Graves. Hm, nobody told me they changed the alphabet at New Year. Actually I have a "bee in my bonnet" about reshelving at this library. They have volunteers to do it. Last year I offered. I was willing to have a police check, although I don't see why I should be  more of a danger while putting books back on the shelves as opposed to taking them off to borrow. Nevertheless I was refused. It seems it is an exclusive group who don't want any outsiders butting in. Too bad they don't keep up and I often find a row of trolleys stacked with books waiting, waiting, . . .

  • Hi everyone.

    Had a couple of appointments today (not as important as it sounds!!) and what with sorting out the horses haven't had time to post/read. Very remiss of me.

    Don't think I can keep up but just to say hope all those with snow and ice take care. Patriciat, sorry about your "incident" hope all OK.

    Annette , glad your daughter is doing well and I'm sure you'll have fun with her and the pets

    Caerann, thanks for the pictures a day or so ago.

    AQ, that is strange, needing a police check. !! Who knew!

    Have a great Wednesday everyone

  • Gary - Volunteers everywhere now need police checks. Even little old ladies who do the flowers at church! Bureaucracy gone mad. The library is run by the local council. And I might just abuse the young people who come in.

  • Good Evening/Night to anyone still online.

    Annette: Thanks, I will have to check out those books you recommended to me.

    The Great Horned Osprey were again on the nest today and evidently have been for the past few weeks, I just wasn't looking for them.   =O)

     

    And to actual Great Horned Owls; someone on another forum detected that Snowflake has significantly deepened her scrape at Valmont so this may be another one to watch very soon:

     

     

  • Evening everyone. Quiet today on the blog.

    AQ: Enjoy the Grafton book.   I know what you mean about volunteering. I helped out with reading for schoolkids the other year and had to be fingerprinted, which is probably understandable.  No such requirements to take care of rose bushes or to count whales, thank heaven!  Our local library uses volunteers, though I haven't volunteered there.  I ran into the "exclusivity" phenomenon just once a couple of years ago when I volunteered to narrate tours on the Amtrak train between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo (local history, etc). I'd already given tours of a Los Angeles-area old Spanish rancho and was used to dealing with the public. Anyway, went through all the training only to run into several very bossy volunteers who treated the newbies like kids. Having had a a very responsible professional position before I retired, I wasn't prepared to put up witih that kind of petty rubbish as a volunteer!!  Fortunately, most organizations don't treat their volunteers like that. 

    Take care everyone else.

  • Annette: I am so very glad that your daughter's surgery went well. I hope that she recovers quickly and that all the animals thrive and live in harmony. :-) Please remember to take care of yourself. Get enough rest, eat well, and take a break once in a while to rejuvenate!!! Deep breaths, some chocolate, a chapter of a good book, a peek at Phoebe, the hummingbird...

  • Hey Annette:

    Diane said it much better than I could so, I second what Diane just said.    =O)