Weekly Chat, Sunday February 7, 2010

Later than I intended – will try to be brief.

Diane – thanks for explanation of furnace.  We had blown hot air heating our first house we owned – fuelled first by town gas, then they brought in natural gas (aka “North Sea Gas”) so it was converted.  We went through conversion again when we moved to a different county which was changed later – but this was a wet system and has been every house since then.   People in country areas are not on “mains” gas and use bottled propane for everything. Most lead pipes have been changed due to risks of lead in the water – mostly copper (but not with lead solder any more) or plastic now.

Annette – loved your pictures from whale-watching site – lovely blue sea and sky!

AQ - sorry you still have too much hot weather, do take care.  Thanks for continuing the history – all sounds quite disorganised – I thought colonisation was more proactive, but sounds like nothing was thought out until it was shown to be necessary, and then too late to be effective!  As you say, terrible times for women.

Heron – thought of you this afternoon: we had a visit from a male Reed Bunting!  Lovely bird to look at, and made himself at home under the feeders – sorry no photo.

DjoanS and Alan – thanks for various pictures

Several people – interesting conversation re Racoon Dogs – hadn’t ever heard of them.  Disgusted to think about the labelling of fur as faux fur!  Especially if they do skin anything alive!  Must think where to protest about that one.

Went out for dinner tonight – Texas Steak Night at our favourite restaurant in Dumfries.  Music on when we arrived was Johnny Cash and reasonable volume to actually hear him because not many in that early.  It’s good that they gradually turn it down as it fills up, so that the chat doesn’t increase in volume to compete with the music.

Loads of interesting Black Bear info on Lily's page!  Turned to Phoebe's nest - Sassy looks awfully itchy - one of the bloggers commented she is moving around a lot, but it looks to me like she is trying to get rid of insects - tho maybe just her stubble itching!!  When she sits down in the nest cup, she looks quite decently like a bird, but when she stretches about, she still looks very reptilian!

I have just googled 'racoon, china'  and found many sites on the subject. There is even a video of the process, which I obviously couldn't watch, but explains that the fur is of a better quality if the animal is still living. I had heard of this  some years ago but thought it had been stopped when it became 'fashionable' not to wear real fur but never thought of it being sold as faux fur. Have to find my next move on this!

Hi All, i think another owlet has hatched which if i'm right now makes it 4

Alicat

Thanks Alicat, great news

OG, sounds a nice evening. I hate it when the music is too loud. A busy day for you

AQ, I'm trying to think of something positve and uplifting about the heat but can't think of anything!! Just huddle as close to the AC as you can.

Busy run around day today, Clover had some new shoes. We are due snow tomorrow and poor Washington DC is due some more as well, even while they are still digging out from the last lot:((

gary a said:

Anymore snow your way?

Hi, Gary. We are now in the throes of Blizzard 2. We're under a Winter Storm Warning, and I expect that by tomorrow morning we will be under a Level 2 Snow Emergency. We're supposed to get a total of up to 8 inches/20 cm with this storm (on top of the leftover snow from Blizzard 1). We may not get quite that much, but it's going to drift like crazy, because we'll have 35-mile-per-hour winds later tonight. Temperature now is 9 F / -13 C. The wind chill is -10 F /  -23 C. It's supposed to be colder tomorrow night. I think you will get this storm. Bundle up.

Hi, all.

Annette: What beautiful pictures of the whale-watching station! How often do you count whales -- every day? Do you get sunburned? I would look like a lobster. I want to see a photo of you at the whale count beach. :-) Oh, I meant to tell you, our trumpet vines climb the locust trees in the yard and in the woods. I don't know whether someone in the past planted them there, or whether the seeds just thrive in that environment. Sometimes I can see 2 or 3 ruby-throated hummingbirds buzzing around one old tree at different levels. Our trumpet flowers are the orange ones. The flowers/vines look like the ones in this photo: http://landscaping.about.com/od/colorfulflowers/ig/orange-flowers/trumpet_vine_flowers_large.htm

aquilareen: I'm with you and Auntie: MUD CAKE is an excellent choice. Thank you so very much for the update on Lizarda DaVinci, the skink. I had been meaning to post to you and inquire about her wellbeing. If she produces offspring, will they stay on your property? Like Auntie, I wish that I could send you some of this cold. If I could just turn these winds tonight toward Australia...

Lindybird: I loved that picture of Buzz the Dog and so did my Dad. I know that is one of the happiest looking dogs I've ever seen. If people could just tap into that sort of happy-go-lucky bliss, we would never need antidepressants again. Glad you got to see the dolphins on your trip. One time when I was married, we were in a small boat on the Gulf of Mexico, and dolphins were riding our bow wave . I jumped in with them briefly. When you're in the water with them in a wild setting, they seem really big. They kept gently bumping me with their noses. I don't swim all that well, and I think they were trying to nudge me to the surface. LOL. It was a little overwhelming, but I wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

DjoanS: Thanks for reminding me about the Valmont owl. Nice pic! Margobird: Always glad to read your posts when I get up in the morning. Alan: Thanks again for identifying the raccoon dogs.

Brenda H: I agree with you regarding the fur issue. I'm going to do some research to find out whether there are steps I can take (letter-writing, petitions, etc.). I confirmed that real fur continues to be mislabeled as faux fur on a massive scale -- and that animals, especially the raccoon dogs, are still being abused for this trade. I read some very recent articles on the Humane Society site and saw some documents from recent lawsuits filed to make corporations stop the deception. All: I thoroughly enjoyed discovering and watching those cute little fellas, and then to find out what is happening to them was such an outrage. I'm very sorry if I upset anyone with the sort of graphic info in my post. I was just so angry... If I post about this subject again, I'll give some warning so people won't have to read about it if they don't want to.

By the way, raccoon dogs are native to China, Japan, Korea, and Russia, and have been introduced into western and central Europe. They hibernate in the winter in their northern habitats, so it was odd to see them on the Estonia cam today. Their mating season begins when they emerge from their winter dens, so we may get to see the babies, which are called cubs.

Tiger: I was looking for a new wallpaper for my desktop, and I thought about you when I saw this: http://desktopwallpaper-s.com/wallpapers/33/Drink_Tiger.jpg

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Hey Diane:  The Gray Whale Count goes from 9-5 seven days a week from mid-Feb to mid-May.  They ask for a two-hour commitment from volunteers each week; interns (typically environmental studies/marine biology students from UCSB) get to do four-hour shifts, but they get class credit/pay depending on the arrangement.  Ideally, 7 or 8 people are "officially" on site at any one time.  I often stay for the whole afternoon (my normal shift is Monday 1-3), especially if someone doesn't show up or if whales are passing. They pass in groups of two or more and if more than two groups are in view, it's hard to ID the number (they don't blow at the same time) and spy any calves, which travel close to Mom.  And, of course, if it's a lovely day, I often pop down there for an hour or so  - it's only 10 minutes away and I have my own binocs. Our binocs have compasses so whoever sees a blow can call out the location and, using reticle measurements, the distance below the horizon.  (We often wonder how birders get by without a compass on their binocs). Anyway, yes, if it's an unusually warm day (all last year was warm and sunny), we can get tanned - not burned, please - very un-Californian!!  :-))  - but no-one in their right mind goes without sunblock and a visor, dark glasses, etc.   Even on overcast days you can get burned.

I used to have scarlet trumpet vines growing all along my driveway in Long Beach, then over the top of the garage door, then over my back door.  I've got white potato vines along the walls here, but plan on putting in some Royal trumpet vines (large, deep purple flowers) once we get the garden planned out.

The info about faux fur is important - I saw some lovely jackets with fur-lined hoods at one point and was thinking (didn't do it for other reasons) of getting one for my granddaughter, who's at 5,000 ft in Arizona. I was impressed by how "real" the fur seemed. Don't know what it was, but your post really made me aware of how careful we have to be.

Off to bed. Everyone: Stay warm/cool, but above all safe.

Diane   I thought you might like this picture. See http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100209.html

Thanks for the wallpaper link.