Weekly Chat, Sunday, January 17, 2010

Hazel b said:

Some great film of starlings swarming on Country Tracks this morning. It is after the 20 minute mark.

See  http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00qbbxf/Country_Tracks_Somerset/

Thanks Tiger, that was stunning. An incredibly moving piece of footage for me. I used to watch starlings doing just that many years ago when I lived quite close to a nature reserve. Magical. It really does take your breath away.

OG   I see that we have a further interest in common viz. growing amaryllises. I was given a very small bulb in 1988 and I planted it. It took until 1992 but it eventually bloomed. It has bloomed at various times since. It has given many bulblets which have been planted by others.

Hi everyone

Been so remiss in trying to keep up, don't know why I haven't!

Hope everyone is doing Ok and i will track back through the posts tomorrow

Annette, that by the time you've worked out the toys in the car, you will be handing it back

Diane, loved the storey:)

Anyway, felt incredibly bad not knowing what was going on so will check in tomorrow, before my hair cut..

I did see though that TerryM had made that choccy orange last for ages. Well done and you are a much better person than me for doing that!!:)

Night all

Hey Annette:  "I saw something nasty in the wood shed!"  I love Cold Comfort Farm! Oh and I'm a Wallace and Grommit fan too.

And Diane I too loved the Creature Comforts show.

For those in the U.S. next Sunday on the series Nature is the American Eagle and the preview showed Bob Anderson of the Raptor Resource Project.  Yaay! We have him to thank for all those wonderful nest boxes at the Xcel Plants in the midwest. 

Have you all seen the latest blog on the Derby Cathedral Peregrines? Seems they have the world's first publicly available proof via their webcams that Peregrines hunt at night. This is tres magnifique! You can find the blog here:

http://derbyperegrines.blogspot.com/

Evening all: Has been steadily raining all day.  Cat already disgusted with all the wet stuff. Moved the birdfeeder under the patio umbrella and made sure the hummingbird feeders were filled.  Costco was busier than I've ever seen it, even before Christmas; ditto Vons (supermarket). Seemed to be a lot of young people shopping, probably because college and university classes start up again next week.

Alan: Our garden centers are a bit forlorn too.  I for one hate it when the usual stock is moved out in favor of Christmas trees. One of my favorite nurseries (garden centers) is La Sumida, which specializes in roses and has a massive area where they display row after row of them throughout the year, starting in February with the arrival of the new bareroots.  Costco had bareroot roses today - I was sorely tempted - but also, amazingly, Sequoia trees in 15 gallon containers for only $36. 

Wattle: Better get that ironing done soon.

OG: Wonderful amaryllis. Thank you so much - and the best part (how did you guess!) was not having to find a vase. I was so tired last week and my dear OH came back from the store with a bunch of flowers and all I could think of was "oh dear, now I have to mess with the flowers!" 

Gary: Drove car to Costco in the rain today and noticed that the windshield wipers make an annoying noise every time they hit the bottom of their range.  Daughter figured out the heating mystery - and how to open the moon roof, not that we'll be opening it any time this week! 

Take care everyone else - good to read the posts - but am fading fast again.

Caerann: Hee-hee!! I forgot the "woodshed" line.  :-))  Also saw the trailer for next week's Nature (on the Bald Eagle).  Hope you, Diane, and Gary won't get too much grief out of these storms that will head your way.

OG: Thanks for the gorgeous Amaryllis photo.

Alan: Loved the moose and bear pix! Do you know by chance if all those Barn Owl eggs will actually hatch? I can't imagine trying to feed 7 gaping maws many times a day!   =O)

Just another quick post.  we had SNOW in our high country today!  In the news coverage it looked like htey had quite afall, too1  Certainly enough to make snowmen and have a decent snowball fight.  It will turn to slush very quickly though.  We're expecting 7 degrees C overnight , then back up to 26 degrees tomorrow afternoon.  Then it's back to very warm condtiions, I'm afraid.

Annette:  I didn't do the ironing!  I just couldn't waste the cool weather by getting all hot and steemy over the iron!  LOL!

Tiger:  One of our 5 available TY channels has been showing not much else BUT tennis for the last 3 weeks!  Another has been running tennis for some part of every day.  Not my sport, I'm afraid.  Mind you, I'm just as bad!  I've been watching a 5 day cricket test match between Australia and Pakistan. LOL!  Not that bad really.  The cricket is on in the background while I do other things.  When something happens there's enough fuss made to attract my attention, and they always replay the good bits.

OG:  They are really great shots of Robert the Bruce.  Thanks for sharing them.  The 1/4 Scot in me appreciates them!  ;-) 

OG    Wonderful photo of Amaryllis     ALAN   Thank you for piccies of Lily    PLEASE  where are you finding them  I have tried to google her but just get a write up of how they are putting a camera in with her

Good morning/day! There are baboons, impala, and warthogs at Pete's Pond right now.

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/wildcamafrica/   (Link is for new people.)