Hi all: Here's to a problem-free week on the site. Check out the last week's final page or so for updates from everyone, including one from Maureen (HillaryH) who's back with us after a hospital stay due to a chest infection and wants directions to Google Earth. Maureen - assume you downloaded GE before? If not, just go to http://earth.google.com/ and click on the Download Google Earth 5 button at right. I can't remember right now how to load Rothes and Mallachie's route; perhaps someone else will let you know if you need additional info. Glad you're back!
Alan posted a hummingbird link (http://vimeo.com/hummingbirds#8409299) for those who missed it and the week's chat ended with a long post from OG, who'd been composing it for days but was unable to get it on the site due to the techy problems! And no OG, haven't attempted the printer-wireless problem yet; can only handle one techy problem at week it seems!!
Have a nice Sunday all. Let's see if this posts
Good afternoon everyone
Thank you jsb ... a timely reminder of things
I went on a shopping mission in the car this morning ... safely accomplished thank goodness. The main roads are ok but the side roads are treacherous. I went along to Whitley Bay to shop (only 4 miles away) ... which is in Tyne & Wear - and I noticed that as soon as I crossed the county border their road conditions were better than ours!!
Caerann - the pics of the owls were so cute - I love them! And your yard visitors too.
Sue C - Loch Mallachie looks superb in that fantastic photo
Alan - thanks for the link to the Cora Linn - I had forgotten about it recently
Thanks everyone else for chat and links!
Joan - avid bird and nature watcher in Northumberland!
Index Thread
DjoanS: We have also 'successfully completed our shopping mission' - FAB, as Alan would say!! Lots of people in the Sainsburys car park, all well insulated & looking harassed, including a poor boy who was supposed to be redistributing the trolleys but couldn't cope with the snow on the ground! - had to be helped by my OH who is old enough to be his grandfather, I suppose! At least now I can just hibernate & not go out again for a week if necessary, if the weather really does get even worse.... Its very very cold here, & the bird bath froze over again within 20 minutes of OH putting warm water in it this morning. His sister has had to have a lift to work, as her car brakes are frozen & in spite of 5 helpful neighbours pushing her up the road, there was no way the car was going anywhere!
I think we should all do as Brenda H says, and start singing "Bring Me Sunshine...."
Tiger: Thanks for news of dear Bill Oddie, glad to hear he is on the mend now, its good that at least he has a loving family to support him through it. Caerann: Loved the Owls pics, do adore those birds. Diane; seems like you are sharing our snow these days, (now at least we know how you feel in the winter) Annette: Hope you and daughter plus animals are all cosy at home now, and getting along alright together! patriciat: Thanks for advice re pics, I do know they take ages to load but I'm also getting a big complicated techie message that there is too much data involved or something..... I'll get this thing sorted someday, even if it means going back to my old camera ... AQ: Maybe I can get my son who is supposed to be a whiz on these things to sort me out with the download you mention or something, thanks. Margobird: Do be careful going out several times a day to the bird feeders, you may fall again & I fear for you, do take care.. Emma Peel: Yes, the temperatures here are very very unusual for Cheshire, we do not get extremes as a rule, & when there are bad storms, or excessive heat, or these sorts of cold, we know that elsewhere it must be pretty grim in the UK, so I do feel for all those still suffering who have had this bad weather since virtually Christmastime.
Going off now to have my 58th cup of hot tea, & cook a warming stew together with a fresh 'birdcake' for tomorrow (someone on one of the threads once reminded us that if you use dripping instead of just lard or fat, the cake holds together better & the birds enjoy it, too).
Even in these cold times, I try to remember that "every day is a gift, that is why they call it 'the present'"
Something to warm us all up: flowers on our holiday balcony, Spring 2007. (with apologies to AQ & Wattle)
(OLD CAMERA ; - ) )
Lovely pic Lindybird - Spring is only round the corner - possibly a very long corner! When I saw your name and a pic I thought you had cracked the photo problem :)) but no, just the old camera :((
Does anyone have experience of clearing a residential road of snow and ice? We have no salt or grit, so it would have to be cleared by shovelling. My query is based on each resident clearing half of the road outside their property and the problem is what to do with the snow/ice that would result? My previous experience was to pile up the snow in the gutter and leave the pavements clear. But now that car ownership results in the need for parking and access to driveways, the only suggestion I can think of is to pile the snow in the gardens. But before i make any suggestions, I wondered if anyone had any ideas? I fear that the idea of using gardens will not go down too well with some people.
ChloeB & Tiger's Osprey Data Site
Sat track schedule Spring 2014
LG 7 days; RW & SWT nil; LDOP varies
Re above: One possibility, would be to spread dishwasher salt on the road and use a Land Rover to churn up the surface and let it melt?
Spring/Autumnwatch special - dealing with how the wildlife cope with the cold conditions - BBC 2 wed 13th January at 20.00hrs.
Welcome to twitcher who has joined the Osprey Group today.
Can't advise about the snow on the roads, ours is just a mess! Someone suggested on TV this morning, that if each household cleared 'their bit' it would help, but of course had to admit that a lot of people are neither able nor young enough to shovel it all. We clear our own driveway (the hard way, by shovelling) & then clear the patch of pavement in front of our house, but there it has to end.
Thanks, LizLFW, for that reminder about the special prog. - won't miss it for sure!
Good Morning Day to all of vous!
We have S-N-O-W here but the City of Chicago is doing their best to clean and salt the streets, of which we have a great many. The city is approximately 228 square miles or 591 square km so you can imagine the work involved.
JSB: I think for your problem is you have no place to put the fallen snow and this is an extraordinary situation. If the gardens are the only places to dispose of the snow, what else can you do then? People may not like it but it benefits the good of all residents so sacrifices must be made.
Alan: Thanks for the winter wonderland that is Cora Linn.
Tiger: A Great Horned and an Eagle Owl are different species but they do look somewhat similar. We don't have Eagle Owls in the U.S. and probably a good thing too since they are simply huge! Our GHO is 22 inches (55 cm) from beak to tail while the EO are up to 30 in. or 75cm. We have an North American owl species which is a bit smaller than the EO and that's a Great Gray Owl but they don't normally come as far south as Chicago.
I hope everyone is doing well today!