Weekly Chat, Sunday, January 24 2010

Hi everyone. Happy Sunday!  As usual, check out the last few entries of the previous week's chat to find out who left a plant at the supermarket checkout counter and ate a bag of chocolate donuts for lunch.

Brought Oro for home visit today; was lovely and sunny and daughter sat in the garden feeding him treats. He had a little snooze and then while my daughter took a nap Oro and I went to the beach and walked along the grassy area behind the sand for about a mile or so. (No trash cans to crash into!)  Marvellous afternoon with brisk breeze and big surf, but now they're forecasting more rain for Monday through Wednesday! 

  • Caerann - I do wonder if feeding these magpies could be a bad thing. I tell myself that the broken beaks are a lack of calcium rather than a genetic problem. Anyway who can resist when they ask so nicely.

  • A.Q.  Magpies are here for a purpose, whether we agree with it or even truly know what that purpose is. Seems like you are helping these birds live a comfortable existence which in turn benefits your well-being and I say there's certainly nothing wrong with that.    =O)

  • Afternoon all:  Muddy Boots? Blankettyside farm? Loch Leven Larder? They all sound wonderful!  Good for Andy Murray, and yeah for that strange yellow orb over the UK. 

    Heron: You're a frustrated sports writer, correct?  Very funny and nicely paced reporting about latest match!  :-))   Hope Murray appreciates your efforts.

    SueC/BrendaH/AQ/Alan:  OK. So we'll revive the Daily Update when the cam is up and we see ospreys. We'll keep Weekly Chat so we can track how many lattes and pieces of carrot cake OG consumes in a week and if Hamish is having problems keeping Alan in line.  And we'll reserve  "Richard's page" for asking questions and getting responses from the LG staff. 

    Alan: Thanks for link to Malta site. I will go and sign the petition when I'm off here.

    AQ:  I take calcium and my beak isn't broken; maybe pop a supplement in the magpie feed!  Just kidding.

    OG: No idea who took granddaughter under knitting wing - maybe someone at her church? I'll have to ask.  In the meantime, you might want to stick around and teach your own grandkids. My mother used to say, regardless of the fault/talent/predisposition  "It skips a generation."  Judging from Diane's previous posts, I'll be she was flat on her back on the floor hooking up new faucets (taps) and redoing the plumbing.

    Off to take Oro for a nice walk along the beach; he'll be going home Saturday morning.

     

  • patriciat    I was born some distance from Omagh and I went to school there. This year, come September,  I will have been away from N Ireland for 35 years.

     

  • Oooer!  Its just taken me ages to catch up on reading all the posts just for the last day & a half!

    No time to reply now, will write again tomorrow.....

    but..... Did agree with Sue C re plan re Daily Updates & weekly Chats, even before getting to Annettes last post, above, saying its a good plan.  There seem to be so many of us now (which is nice, by the way)   that just one thread a week would soon get clogged up, I think.   Annettes idea as outlined above seems to sort it all out nicely.

    Goodnight from me.

  • Alan,  I have already signed the Malta petition as there is a thread on the Community Forum under the heading, Migration, started by RSPB. So between your's and their appeals there should be plenty of signatures. I hope so.

    Annette,  thanks for organising the future forums. Sounds to me, you are going to miss Oro and your walks. My Mother taught me to knit and I then taught my daughter, but I have never seen her knit anything since she was at school.

    Like the rest of you, I am fascinated to know what Diane was doing with the sink and for so long !

    Goodnight All.

     

  • Hi Alan i have signed the petition

    Alicat

  • OH is busy drafting a constitution for a voluntary group, so I will make another post after all!

    AQ – glad I now understand about your poor Magpies – I thought it was an Australian species of Magpie whose beaks look broken, didn’t realise they were birds with a problem!

    Annette – how well you set out the proposal for use of the different streams when the L G Osprey season gets underway!  It all sounds very sensible to me. Have tried knitting with younger Gdaughter, but she didn’t have the patience – I think someone (not me) gave her a knitting set too young – as happens with everything these days!  Hope you enjoyed the non-trash-can walk with Oro – you’ll miss him when he goes home.

    Lindybird – hello! And goodnight.

    See you all tomorrow, folks.

    Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!

  • Hi everyone.

    Alan:  Thanks for posting the petition link, which I've signed.

    patriciat, Tiger:  Interesting reading about Northern Ireland.  My great grandfather on my father's mother's side came from the north west coast of Ireland, in the west of Co. Donegal.  I was recently told by an aunt that when he first came to Scotland he could only speak Gaelic.  I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere that in parts of east Donegal many of the people speak in Ulster Scots.

    OG:  6 degrees!  I hope you remembered to wear sun block and drink plenty of fluids.  I find it's best to stay in the shade in the hottest part of the day.  :-)

    Maureen: I totally agree with you and Alan about Sunlight's improved chances in the spring.  I think he'll have prepared more thoroughly by then.

    AQ:  I'm not sure that feeding magpies would cause broken beaks.  Perhaps this is a genetic problem which has caused the birds to break their beaks when they tried to clean them.  It's a shame for the poor birds.

    Annette:  Don't know if I'm a frustrated sports writer or not but I'm glad the fight finished in the sixth as I was running out of stuff to write ;-)  If Andy Murray gets to two sets to love up in the final and is five love up in the third set, while on match point on his serve; I might switch on the TV.  Then again, must keep disciplined.

    Stay safe everyone.



    Paul.

    Warning!  This post contains atrocious spelling, and terrible grammar.  Approach with extreme edginess.

  • Continuing the SA history . . . Four ships of emigrants arrived at Kangaroo Island where the pioneers set up camp while they waited for the ship carrying the surveyor Colonel William Light. Three ships were meant to take up whaling but the planners in London failed to note that the whales had been almost fished out. In August, a month after the first arrivals, Light arrived to check the SA coast for a suitable site for settlement. Encounter Bay (Victor Harbor), Port Lincoln & others were rejected. Time was wasted looking for an inlet that wasn’t recorded in the right place. This inlet became the Port. For the main settlement he chose a flat plain with lagoons of water where Adelaide is now, 6 miles inland from the harbour. In December the Governor arrived. Hindmarsh, being a naval man wanted the settlement at the Port but Light had been given the authority to choose and had rejected the Port as the main settlement because of a lack of fresh water. (Light had fought in Spain with Wellington’s army.) Arguments continued about the site. Settlers were camped in tents at what would become Glenelg. You can imagine what that was like in the height of summer. By March Light had completed the survey of Adelaide despite interruptions, arguments, shortage of staff, shortage of transport and his ill health. (He started his survey with a hand cart to transport his instruments.) The next task was to survey the country sections, urgently needed for farming to begin. Three years later Light was dead from TB.

    If you are interested, I can continue the history.