Oh my, another week. How many rosettes did Tweed win at the agility contest? Check Patriciat's late post on last week's blog to find out! Congratulations Tweed and Patriciat!
Alan: So sorry to hear about Hamish. I'm sure that he'll be just fine! I'll be thinking about you and the little doggie tomorrow and sending good energy.
I keep dodging back to the screen, between cooking jobs. Now have some chicken bubbling on the stove, & had the foresight to mix up the ingredients for pancakes this morning, so that's taken care of. (some people say that the mixture should stand for a while, have never made my mind up on that one.)
Thanks to dibnlib for posting the recipe for flapjacks, I thought about that this morning, but didn't have time. They are delicious. We seem to be very foody here lately.
Annette: Hope you continue to enjoy your whale watch: fancy seeing all those chorus line dolphins, what a treat. Assume your daughter continues to regain her strength now, which must be a relief to you. Typical of teenagers for your grandson to come a'visiting with laundry!
Tiger: Great pic once again of the shuttle, that is one amazing site.
My OH is still not feeling great, but I'm sure he'll manage some chicken casserole & some pancakes later, all the same! We shall have to wait until tomorrow to see how he is. I had my 'fashion parade' of trying on various holiday clothes, as my weight does fluctuate, luckily I can get enough bits together to appear reasonably well dressed without buying any more. Always feel that if you need to go up a size, its doom & gloom as its grim seeing all those other things hanging up which should I suppose be an incentive to diet some of it off...... Sorry, rambling again.
Had a laugh this morning at a whole gaggle of starlings bathing in our bird bath, they managed to spray most of the water out & it will have to be refilled. They reminded me of a lot of 10 year olds at the swimming baths, barging & shouting, shoving and splashing.
Hey, Caerann (and anyone else who's interested): I live near the Parke County line, and I was absolutely astonished to see this paragraph in the 2009 Wildlife Diversity Report for Indiana: "A new ground count was established in Parke County to tabulate bald eagles as they leave their night roost along Sugar Creek and fly to foraging areas along the Wabash River. Sixty-two bald eagles were counted from this spot, an amazing number of eagles seen over the course of a couple of hours." You probably already knew this, but I'm really excited because this is an astounding recovery -- no bald eagles at all had nested in the entire state from 1900 to 1998.
Also, the 2003-2006 restoration effort for ospreys has been successful: "During 2009, 35 pairs of osprey were known in Indiana, with 30 pairs believed to have laid eggs. These figures compare to 2 pairs and 1 active nest in 1999..." We don't have any ospreys near my home, though. We had one successful breeding pair in a Parke County nest in 1971, but nothing since then.
http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:V0JaJzGtimMJ:https://secure.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/files/fw-09WildlifeDiversityReport.pdf+Parke+County+Indiana+osprey&cd=17&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
I had a dream last night that Garten found a mate and nested on the old Parke County osprey nest, and nobody would believe me that it was really her. LOL! LOL!
Diane: Brilliant news about the eagles - there's hope after al. :-)
Lindybird: Oh dear, I have the same "fashion" problem in my closet. I try things on and think, "maybe that'll fit me next year," but even if it does, it never looks right. I tend to wear the same things over and over. So I'm going to be ruthless next time - I've nagged OH into going through all his work/dress shirts and now he's ahead of me in the cleaning-out-the-closet caper.
Grandson arrived with laundry, large appetite, and fretting about needing a few dollars for gas for his car since he doesn't get paid until tomorrow. Needless to say......
Nice bald eagle story:
http://www.tampabay.com/news/environment/wildlife/baby-eagle-finds-new-home-in-dunedin-nest/1073519
Diane: Wonderful to hear good news about birds, for once. Those eagles have been busy. Glad to hear about your ospreys, too, even tho' they are not exactly your neighbours (yet),
Annette: Also dug out most of Husband's short sleeved shirts, & demanded that he decide which ones were for travel. He doesn't really care very much what he wears, which is a shame as I always say he looks good when he's dressed up. He hasn't had to try anything on, as he weighs less than a few months ago when he went on a self imposed diet, eating only a small salad for lunch even when we had the snow here & were wearing three layers of clothes, even indoors. Then in the evening he had less potatoes or rice with our usual meal.
We have just enjoyed our pancakes, with sugar & lemon, he tossed them in the pan as I'm not brave enough. We remarked to our neighbours how much nicer it is now that it goes dark here so much later, so it feels as if we are over the depths of Winter, even if its still a tad cold.
Lovely bald Eagle story, Alan, thanks, did enjoy it.
Lovely story Alan - hope the folks who aren't feeling wonderful take the time to read it and watch the video; smiles are guaranteed.
Hello all. Couldn't get on to the site at all earlier, then had to catch up on dog walking. Many, many thanks to all who wished my sister well - pacemaker is installed at last and I've spoken to her since. She's very relieved that it's over and she hopes to get home tomorrow. Thanks to all for congratulating Tweed. He's very modest!
I should have taken notes of all the things I wanted to comment on but I didn't so, apologies if I have left unnoted anything I should have commented on - that's the problem with not reading posts each day.
Margobird I'm horrified that you are going outside in the cold and wet with a chest infection - get OH to feed the birds. I ended up with pleurisy once when I had a cold and spent too long hanging washing on an outdoor clothes line - confinement to bedroom and much pain ensued, so WATCH IT!
Alan Sorry about poor Hamish. My lot wish him all the best. I'll be thinking about him (and you) tomorrow and in the days until you get the result of the biopsy.
Thanks to everyone who has posted delicious recipes. I'm going to note them down and try them out - I have a terrible sweet tooth.
OG Hope your OH is no longer feeling dizzy. You were very wise not to let him drive.
Keep safe and keep well everyone.
PS Here's the promised picture of Tweed competing last summer.
Oops! - sorry. He got in at the start!
Thanks for good wishes for OH – dizziness didn’t last long and he’s now watching a steam engine DVD. He missed lunch but “managed” a few biscuits, and actually had to do a couple of small tasks this afternoon as new door fitters are due tomorrow and I couldn’t do all the preparatory moving of stuff. He ate a normal dinner.
Alan – didn’t get to see more than the still on Zurich cam as it wanted to download stuff, and I’m always wary of that. Loved Lady P’s orchid flower. Really enjoyed reading the eagle baby adoption story (and video) – so good that the property owner cares about the birds, too.
Diane – amazing good news in the Indiana biodiversity report – there’s such a lot of good stuff going on. Dau#2 and S-I-L both work in conservation in the Highlands and we read a lot of good reports in their magazine. We went to the launch of the updated biodiversity plan for our own region last year and came away with a copy of the really encouraging detailed report.
Annette – what are Grandparents for? I think we all know!
Patriciat – lovely action shot of Tweed, legs beautifully tucked right up as he clears the barrier, – and lovely green grass of summer! So pleased about your sister having the pacemaker and soon to go home!
Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!