Happy new week folks! Don't foget to check the last few posts of the previous week. Heron posted a photo of a female reed bunting, AQ saw a "ginormous flock of corellas" (must Google that!), OG has found a nice B&B for her trip, Alan posted a nifty shot of the changing of the guard at the eagle nest, folks are wondering how Diane is doing with the storm the big storm back East, and much, much more! :-) We had almost 2 inches of rain in Santa Barbara today, which is brilliant. Still sorting files and likely to be doing so for a day or three to come. Take care all.
Hi, everyone. Thanks so very much for all of your kind expressions of concern. You're such nice people. We have made it through the storm just fine. We were right on the edge of the big East Coast blizzard. We were very lucky; we didn't get the extreme amounts of snow that the poor folks further east did. We received only about 6.5 inches (16.51 cm), and much of that has melted off today. However, we did get a lot of ice and the very high winds associated with the blizzard. I always worry about the trees falling, because some of them are immensely tall and old, and, of course, I was concerned that we would lose power. Many of the small towns had power outages, and our electricity flickered for several hours.
I so wish that you could have heard our woods last night! The trees were laden with ice and the limbs were bent low and swinging against each other in the fierce winds. The forest sounded like a giant set of wind chimes -- clinking and chinking. It was eerie and hauntingly beautiful -- a breathtaking sound and sight. The birds were very noisy this morning; I think they were celebrating the end of the storm and their survival.
Diane: How wonderful the woods must've sounded - a perfect time to be tucked up warm in bed. Good you missed the worst of it - the news reports are awful and they're expecting more (probably the storm that just passed through here). We're looking at more rain next week.
Yup, Annette, we already have winter storm watches posted here for Monday night through Tuesday night. I'm hoping that our luck will hold and we'll once again be on the edge of it all. Hope Caerann and Gary miss it, too.I was watching the weather channel last night, and I saw the flooding in SoCal. You folks are having an unusual winter, too, aren't you? Hope you aren't in any danger there -- floods, mudslides, etc.
To all of our friends in the USA We wish you well and hope that none of you are suffering with the atrocious weather
PATRICIAT. that poor lady with the labs. Having one dog put to sleep is a nightmare, even when you know you are doing the right thing. To have to put 2 to sleep is just unimaginable and I shed tears for her.
Off now for a swim (think the painter will not be here till this evening). We will have to continue living in the breakfast room for another week, so just have to make do with things till then. Really looking forward to the end result
Referring to past discussion – Sunday has to be first day of the week because it’s when we start our new thread! Osprey watchers rule, ok!
AQ – hope you get a picture of the flocking Corellas (must look them up after this, never heard of them!) – and that Miss 14’s birthday celebration went well.
Heron – lucky you getting visit from reed bunting – and picture. Are you near marshland or does it live beside the river/canal?
Annette - OG won’t be going anywhere for a while – the B&Bs are just future/contingency planning. We are booked for a trip to Muir of Ord for S-i-L’s birthday in May, but Dau#2 has messed up her arrangements and the ceilidh is the following week! We shall stick to our date and just have lunch and tea with them (and some Dolphin-watching too), as we have a different trip booked soon after and need recovery time between, and our B&B host there has already made special arrangements to accommodate our date. Going to and from Dau, we shall be passing by where Son is going to live, so that may well incorporate a brief time with him – and he’s likely to be in an upstairs appt where I can’t actually visit anyway. If he needs us before then, he can let us know! Good about your rain – so long as it knows when to stop, rather than cause floods and landslides!
Diane – so pleased that you did not get the worst of that storm – love your description of the sound of the woods – and totally agree that birds (and other creatures) do celebrate after a storm! I hope the further storms are kind to you as they move north -east! I wondered too about Caerann, but when she posted yesterday, she was setting out sixty miles to a wedding so can’t have been too bad.
Good morning, Dibnlib, I hope your decorator won’t be too late coming - enjoy your swim, and your walk later.
Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!
Morning all, for a change, as I'm usually an evening person. Just found out I can't check on eagles or hummers because it's dark over there!
Diane, hope all's well (and Caerann, Gary and Annette), what sort of trees are your wood? I like lying in bed listening to my bamboo wind chimes but it might be a little more scary if it's real trees doing it. It could be the Wild Things brushing past the icicles....
Went to RSPB at Mersehead yesterday to see barnacle geese, there were loads of them, chomping their way through the grass towards the hide. Stopped at both hides, saw lots of ducks (teal, shelduck, wigeon) then walked to the shore and along the Solway, it's about 3 miles round. We meant to come here last year but ended up at Caerlaverock by mistake, and I have to agree with OG who said last year that the tea facilities are much better there than at Mersehead (hot water machine and sachets to do yourself). No latte and carrot cake for me!
Driving back on the A75 I was just about to wave to OG when we were distracted by THOUSANDS of starlings doing their thing just above the horizon. Unfortunately there are banks at the side of the road and we didn't get a good view (OH was driving) but we did see them briefly, swooping around in fantastic shapes, amazing. I've been wondering where all my starlings had gone, now I know.
Terry in Cumbria
Hi, all. It's just after 5:00 AM here. I got up at 4:30 AM in order to watch the launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavor. It was supposed to be the last night launch of a space shuttle (the program will be ended soon), and I really wanted to see it. But, alas, at the last possible minute, NASA scrubbed the launch. How dare they?!?! After I dragged my bum out of bed to watch it. Some nonsense about bad weather. Sigh. (Just kidding; I want the astronauts to be safe!)
Hi, OG: Dolphin watching sounds wonderful fun! They are such intelligent creatures. I'm going to have to look up ceilidh, sounds like an interesting custom, and I have only a vague idea about it. Thanks for your nice words to me! Hi, Dibnlib: Thanks for your kind words. Hope you like the end result of your decorating.
TerryM: I would have loved to see the barnacle geese, as well as the ducks. Have you seen the wonderful Pacific ducks in aquilareen's gallery? To answer your question: We have old-growth as well as new-growth forest here, with a wide variety of hardwoods and softwoods (black walnut, maple, white sycamore, mulberry, boxelder, elm, pine, etc.). The mulberry trees smell sooo good in the spring, and the squirrels love the walnut trees. The trees that worry me the most in the wind/ice storms are the black locust trees. I love them dearly, but they have very shallow root bases. They aren't deeply rooted into the ground, and ours are very, very old and extremely tall. A couple of years ago when our burn/creek flooded a bit, one of the big fellas toppled over, and it was by the grace of the Universe that it didn't hit our house -- against all odds, the tree fell the other way. I do love the old locust trees because they have trumpet vine wrapped around them all the way to the tops. The ruby-throated hummingbirds just love the trumpet flowers, and I love the hummingbirds!
Okay, back to bed, now that NASA has disappointed me.
Good Morning ALL,
AQ, I have just been looking at picttures of corellas and also noticed a recent article about the residents of Horsham, Victoria, demanding a cull of the birds, as they are causing too much damage to trees, gardens, crops, houses and even the bitumen on the roads. They say that the corellas numbers are increasing and that there are far too many of them.
Diane, so pleased that the storm has now passed through, but over 6" of snow, combined with wind and ice, must have been a worrying time for you, especially when you explain about your old trees. Lovely to hear about your wide variety of trees though and the joy they obviously bring. Sorry that NASA has upset you.
Dull and cloudy here this morning and cooler, but we have had a short glimpse of the sun.
Morning, All. Thanks to Annette for once again starting the thread, & in that cheery way she has.
Diane: So glad to hear that you are OK: we've had pics from the USA on our news here, & the snow looks horrendous. We've all been thinking about you. Thanks for your great descriptions of the ice, & the woods.
Like BrendaH we have had a bit of sun this morning, and now the two of us and Dog are off on a walk before lunch. You never know when its going to deteriorate on these winter days, so best be off soon.
Must look up Corellas, later....
Afternoon everyone from TI,
AQ : I also was unaware of what a corella was and now I know they are a type of small cockatoo. Thanks for that info.
Paul : Thanks for the reed bunting picture. I am not sure if I have ever seen one around here before.
Lindybird : Enjoy you walk with the dog. I will be taking Hamish out soon.
Weather is DREICH here today.
Temp 4.7 c , Sunrise 07:31 , Sunset 16:57