Category: Birds

The gas man cometh – 18 December 2024

Posted on by Zogman

Today we were waiting in for the boiler engineer to come and sign off our water boiler for another year.

Thankfully he didn’t arrive dead on 9am but knocked on the door an hour later when we were properly awake. He didn’t take long to clean out the boiler and certify it until next year, all being well.

That left Scamp me just enough time to run Scamp up to the town centre under a clearing sky to meet Isobel. While they were having coffee and a blether, I started putting everything back into the boiler cupboard. We’d decided that there were too many jackets hanging behind the cupboard door and we had to dispose of some and put others in long term storage, which is almost the same as disposing of them. I’d visited Tesco on my way home and brought home some essentials like milk and bread.

Scamp arrived not long after I’d finished and we had some lunch. I was about to dig out my boots and go for a walk but Hazy phoned and I wanted to speak to her, so delayed my walk. Scamp spent a while talking to her about her travels to Manchester and faulty buses. I asked her about the difficulties of moving Android data to iPhones. We were both glad that Neil is finally getting recognition for the work he does outside school hours.

There was just enough light left to take some photos over at St Mo’s pond and I’d brought some cabbage leaves to feed the waterfowl. Well, attempting to feed them. apparently they hadn’t had the memo about green leaf veg being good for them. They sailed past along to a bloke who was feeding them bread.You’ll regret this later waterfowl! A low level shot of the mixture of birds on the pond today made PoD.

It took me about an hour, probably more to copy the data from an almost full micro SD and paste it into a shiny new and much larger one Mr Bezos was kind enough to send us by Royal Mail, free of charge. Hopefully that’s the last of the computer work I’ll have to do for a while.

We watched the finale of the Portrait Artist of the Year and watched Brogan Bertie paint his version of Lorraine Kelly. It wasn’t the worst painting I’ve seen on this program, but it wasn’t great either. So different, it was from his work in the heats, I began to wonder if there was a ghost painter somewhere. Just thinking out loud. I must ask Fred for his opinion.

Tomorrow Scamp is OUT AGAIN. This time she’s intending meeting her pal Mags for lunch. I might go looking for a new shaver.

An early rise – 30 November 2024

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We had to drive to Brookfield half an hour earlier than usual, so we had to be up earlier than usual.

Brookfield were having an early Xmas fair and needed to use the hall from midday, so the proles had to be out by then.

At least the heating was on when we arrived. A quick sequence dance to start the day, then we were into the Hoabie Quickstep, named for the inventor’s dog, apparently. I think I danced like that dog today. My mind was a total blank. Even with Scamp talking me through the parts that made up the quickstep, I couldn’t remember them. Finally after about half an hour of shuffling round the floor like a complete beginner, things began to click into place and the Hoabie Quickstep was in my head. Now all I need is for my feet to learn it!!

Next was the Blue Angel Rumba, which I ‘sort of knew’, ie not very well. One of the tracks Stewart played was Silent Night sung(?) by Stevie Nicks. It was the worst rendition of that song I’ve ever heard. I often slag off street singers by saying: “One of the most important things a singer must learn is how to **sing***”* Even the worst street singers are better than this. Really, it put my teeth on edge. Listen to it if you dare and see if you agree with me.

The next dance was Jane’s version of a Rumba we’ve been learning forever. Every time we get it clear in our head, she changes bits of it. Today it was a move / unit called “Round the World” which was ok, but nothing special. I wasn’t impressed, but it was probably Ms Nicks’ earworm that was gnawing away at my ear canals.

Drove home across the Kingston Bridge and for once it wasn’t horrible. We made good time and I think we were both happy to be home for different reasons.

After a quick lunch of half a Ginsters Cornish Pasty for me and a Ginsters Chicken Pasty for Scamp, I went for a walk in St Mo’s where I got today’s PoD of a collection of Canada Geese getting ready to fly south after stopping off at St Mo’s for a break. I walked down to the shops to get some peas and chicken thighs to make tonight’s dinner Chicken and Pea Traybake. One of the easiest meals to make because it’s all done in a tray in the oven.

Later we watched Strictly and weren’t impressed with many of the dances tonight. We could do better. We can always do better, just as long as it isn’t the Hoabie Quickstep with music by Stevie Nicks

So today was the last day in November with its snow, frost, unseasonal temperatures and floods. It was also the end of meteorological Autumn. Winter will begin tomorrow. There’s a thought!

No plans for tomorrow.

Let it Snow – 23 November 2024

Posted on by Zogman

This is probably the first snow of the year, and it’s still lying.

I woke about 6am and there was no snow. I surfaced again about 7am and everywhere was white. The temperature had risen just enough to be in the snowy zone. Not long afterwards, Scamp’s phone started ringing. Every one a cancellation. It only took about 20 minutes for the final decision to cancel today’s dance class to be announced. We didn’t have a lot of snow, but we were both more worried about what we’d meet on the way to Brookfield and even more apprehensive about the conditions we’d drive into on the way back. It was a relief to snooze or read for an extra half hour in bed.

The snow continued on and off for most of the morning. I tried another variation on yesterday’s photo of the birds. This time, just the arial antics of the starlings dangling from the cages with the suet blocks on the tree branches, but none of them were clear enough for me.

After a plate of soup with a slice of toast for lunch, the snow stopped for the day and I got today’s real PoD which was a water drop hanging from a branch of the climbing rose at the front door. For once I captured the water drop forming a lens through which I could see an upside down but clear image of the house behind ours. That was easily the best shot of the day. I had thought of going out to get some snowy pictures, but decided what I had would be good enough. Besides, it was beginning to rain.

Dinner was Kashmiri chicken curry from a Holy Cow concentrate that claimed it was a heat level 2 of 5. It lied. It was very, very hot. I don’t want to know how hot a heat level 5 would be. Probably hot enough to melt the plastic bag it came in!

We watched Franco Colapinto demonstrate how to completely destroy a £12 million F1 race car in about 10 seconds. When the camera turned to views of the mechanics you could read their minds that said “Bang goes any chance of a couple of beers tonight.”

We will wait until tomorrow before we make any decisions on where we’re going, if we’re going anywhere!

Another cold morning – 22 November 2024

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Scamp caught the bus to meet Isobel in the morning, while I took the easy option and edited this week’s photos. I managed to pull four or five shots up from the depths of this week’s efforts. Usually I’m complaining about there being no direct lighting, but the harsh light from the low sun was a challenge in the last seven days. Never happy!

While I was making my coffee later in the morning, I spotted a blackbird pecking away at half an apple sitting on the compost bin. I grabbed my camera, but by the time I got back to the kitchen it had flown off. I left my camera waiting, just in case it came back. I think it might have because the apple was now lying on the ground. The blackbird might have gone, but five sparrows were now having a communal bath in the warm water of the bird bath I’d poured a jug of hot water into the frozen bird bath and by the time I’d had a quick look round the garden and replaced the fallen apple, the water was cool, but no longer frozen.

Once I was inside again and the coast was clear, the birds returned. I spotted half a dozen sparrows, a couple of dunnocks, two blue tits, a robin and a gang of rowdy starlings. Our garden must have been the only place for miles around where they could drink and have a splash. Poor wee things.

When Scamp returned, we walked over to Broden’s for what has become a Friday lunch. Not every Friday, but usually every second one, especially in the winter. Bumped into George Taylor in Broden’s, sneaking a pint after getting some messages!

When we were walking home there was just the hint of rain in the wind. The first rain we’ve had in about a week, which is probably another reason the birds find our garden a real asset.

Scamp took pity on them and hung up a couple of holders with slabs of fat and seeds inside. It wasn’t long before the starlings found them and started squabbling to be first to stock up on the food.

PoD was a robin. Maybe the one that was waiting impatiently for its turn at the bath.

The weather fairies are predicting wild weather when Storm Bert rolls in tomorrow bringing wind, snow, thunder-snow and rain. They have been warning about it for the last week, so we’ll take the warning seriously.

I’m not sure if we’ll be going to Brookfield tomorrow. It will definitely be a case of “It depends on the weather”

Looong Day – 8 November 2024

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Scamp was out in the morning to FitSteps and after that, coffee with June. I was rebuilding MacOS Ventura for the third time … or is it fourth?

I spent most of the morning destroying the Crucial SSD that used to run the iMac, and with it, all the operating system and the data. Then I started again from a completely clean disk and reinistalled Ventura, the operating system. When that was done, I plugged in a second SSD and used the built-in Migration Assistant from Ventura to copy the data from the second SSD to the Ventura SSD. I knew this would take a good three hours, because, not only does it copy the data, it also updates it to Ventura at the same time. Rather than sit watching numbers and letters flying across the screen, I went out for a walk in a cold St Mo’s. Spotted two Canada Geese probably overwintering or maybe just dropping in for a rest before travelling further south for the winter. PoD went to a bunch of Flag Lily seedheads I found behind St Mo’s school. They looked like alien creatures or deformed insects, but had lovely deep brown colours.

When I returned, so had Scamp. We had lunch and discussed the morning’s events. I think the ‘tronics stuff went completely over Scamp’s head, much like her dance instructions fly over mine, but it’s still good to discuss these things! The computer seems to have settled down and everything works this time, touch wood.

Then out of the blue I got a message from Ray. I don’t think I’ve had a conversation with him since last Christmas. It seems he has medical problems and is in an old peoples home in Douglas waiting for an op. I was shocked. He asked me for Val’s email address and after confirming with Val that he was happy to give it, I sent it to Ray.

We went to Crawford & Nancy’s for dinner at night. Lots of news exchanged by all of us. Crawford is waiting for a cataract op and has his pre-op next week. He was a lot quieter than his usual which has probably got something to do with the operation. I know I was a bit jittery about my first cataract op, but I did enjoy the month off work it gave me!
Good meal and lots to talk about. We left just before midnight and it was almost straight to bed.

Tomorrow we’ll probably be dancing!

 

Broadwood – 7 October 2024

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Out to the docs to get my BP checked.

Just the last of the checks to confirm that my BP had stabilised. Not just one nurse, but two. The sister and a student nurse checked my BP an gave me the all clear. All done in a 15 minute visit and I don’t have to come back until my annual review.

On the way home, I drove up to Tesco and got milk and rolls, just the real essentials today, then back home for lunch and a debrief with Scamp before we booted up and went for a walk around Broadwood Loch.

The weather wasn’t warm, but neither was it cold. Just a hoodie today for both of us, no need for a raincoat. As usual and against the flow of walkers, but with the flow of joggers, we walked round the loch clockwise. Because it had rained during the night, we didn’t risk the forest section. I know it’s been been cleared and drained, but I didn’t fancy going all the way round it only to find out there was a great long section that would be up over our boots in mucky water. Safer to stick to the path. I got some long lens shots of a cormorant stretching its wings out to dry and thought that would make PoD, but it was the first shot I took today looking along the loch to Blackwood and then The Campsies in the far distance that got the accolade of PoD.

I attempted a recipe for Linguine with Smoked Salmon and Spinach, except we didn’t have any Linguine because Scamp doesn’t like it and we didn’t have any Spinach either. There was a requirement for double cream and we had none of that or a hundred other things, but we did have the smoked salmon. The inevitable result was that it tasted awful and went in the bin.
Note to self: Before you start, read the recipe and check the ingredients!

We had pizza for dinner and it was lovely.

Today’s prompt asked for a Passport. I’ve now seen a few variations on Pass the Port with a glass of wine being passed from hand to hand. I tried a version of the British passport, and now that I look at it, it isn’t all that bad. But what I settled on was a pastiche of a passport. A Scottish passport with a bottle of Buckfast, two crossed thistles and an advert for Greggs. I’m sure Alex would approve.

I’m off to the docs again tomorrow. Just getting my money’s worth from the NHS before all their money disappears.

 

Dancin’ – 26 September 2024

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Another cold day. We seem to have skipped autumn and gone straight to winter!

A quick lunch and then we were driving over to Glenburn for today’s Tea Dance. Such a difference between Glenburn and Brookside. Last week Brookside had no heating of any sort. Today, the heating was on in Glenburn and had been for some time to make sure we were comfortable.

The usual programme of music and dances. I do find it’s a bit repetitive, but I also know that it’s that same repetition that embeds the moves in my brain. The waltz we started with was the Four Seasons and we do know it quite well, so after a few missteps I remembered most of it. Then the Cha-Cha and the Jive. That seems to be the fallback trilogy with occasional Quickstep, although that was missing today and a Foxtrot which we intended to try Kirsty’s steps, but either she or we had missed something, because it simply didn’t flow as it should have done.

After the tea break, Stewart tried to teach the Butterfly Jive to us all. I can remember the first part of it, but after that it just gets too complicate too quickly for my poor feet to catch up. After two rounds of the Butterfly, Stewart walked back to his desk, saying “That was Fun!”. I heard nobody agreeing with him, in fact there seemed to silence across the hall. I used to think the most hateful dance was he Cha-Cha. All that nonsense about starting on the second beat was simply nonsense to me, but now I’ve come to terms with the dance. Maybe in a couple of years I’ll also come to terms with the Butterfly Jive DV. Perhaps not. I don’t know if I was extra crabbit today, but everything seemed to put my teeth on edge. Maybe it was the weather, which had started out wet, but by the time we were leaving, the sun was coming out.

Back home, that sun that was coming out, was hiding again, but I managed a walk down to Broadwood Loch and got some late afternoon photos of swans. I also spotted and photographed some Bitter Nightshade. I often wondered what those bright little berries on the boardwalk and why the birds didn’t eat them. It appears that some birds can eat the berries without injury, but most avoid them. The berries are also poisonous to humans. A photo of one of the swans preening got PoD.

No real plans for tomorrow. Scamp is hoping to go to FitSteps in the morning.

 

Busy – 20 September 2024

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Almost a duplicate of yesterday, but with Scamp being the busy one.

Scamp was out at FitSteps in the morning and I was rolling around under the downstairs wash hand basin squirting more silicone into the place where the leak was in the hope that it would stave off the drips, at least for a couple of days until we could get a plumber to fix it properly.

I was making my morning coffee when I saw a blackbird having a wash in the bird bath in the back garden. By the time I’d grabbed a camera with a long enough lens, the blackbird had been ousted by four young starlings who were squabbling as starlings do, all trying to get washed in the bird bath. Eventually the fighting became more restrained and the numbers dropped to two who were splashing away merrily. That was PoD taken care of, because soon it would be all hands on deck.

When Scamp returned with lunch, I was again rolling on the floor. The living room floor this time adding an extension to the round table that would turn it into an oval table. After lunch, work started on the starter and the dessert, both Scamp’s strongholds and nothing to do for me. Instead, I got the hoover out and gave the hall, kitchen and living room a good going over.

I did think of taking a walk in St Mo’s, but the weather had turned dull and misty and there really wasn’t the need for more after the starling photos. Instead, I processed the photos.

Crawford & Nancy were the first to arrive and almost immediately afterwards, June & Ian’s taxi appeared. A full house tonight. Lots of catching up to do with everyone. Dinner worked out well. The starter was Prawn Cocktail (no tomatoes for Nancy). Main was Chicken Tagine (no olives for Scamp). Dessert was Tiramisu for everyone.

We showed some photos of the holiday and the wedding. I’d spent most of the afternoon coercing the tablet into playing nice with Chrome and actually casting the images on the TV.. Thankfully it worked on the night.

The visitors eventually left just before midnight and, after loading the dishwasher and a gin each, we finally got to bed about an hour later.

We might need a morning’s worth of work to get everything back in place.

Dancin’ – 22 August 2024

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Bright sunny day that developed the look of rain, which never appeared until evening.

We were going dancing today at Glenburn, but before that, Scamp went shopping for bread and milk, so that after lunch we could get changed into dancing clothes and go.

We didn’t dance as much as we’d thought we would because we were sitting with a couple from Largs. The lady struck up a conversation with Scamp while we men sat around and chipped in the occasional comment, as men do.

We did manage a fairly lengthy quickstep without making it too obvious that we were repeating a lot. I attempted Fishtails, but need a lot more practise on the actual strategy of fishtails before I can confidently insert them into full dance. There are lots of little steps like that we know and just need the confidence to add them to our short routine. Practise, that’s what we need the most. Anyway, it passed an afternoon that otherwise we’d have used up sitting around the house.

Drove home and had an M&S curry for dinner. For the first time I was distinctly unimpressed with the Chicken Tikka which was just bland with nothing to commend it in my opinion.

We watched episode 1 of a series called Vienna Blood, set in 1906 Vienna. I drew comparison immediately with The Turkish Detective which even with occasional subtitles was a much better series. Scamp took issue with the close-ups of staring eyes. Maybe episode 1 was a good place to stop.

The PoD was a robin that stopped for a quick splash in the birdbath in the afternoon. Another swimmer I saw today was a snail, complete with shell in an old mushroom tub sunk in the raised bed, I’d originally poured some no alcohol beer into it to see if the smell would attract slugs to drown in it, but they appeared uninterested in pretend beer. This snail, however wasn’t drowning in the now rainwater tub, it was actually swimming. I’ve once seen a big black slug paddling in puddles with its ‘head’ above water, but this snail seemed to be floating in the water. Maybe the shell holds enough air to make it buoyant. I must investigate that.

Tomorrow we may be going east in search of some sun.

Chiffchaff – 4 August 2024

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That’s what I saw this morning, although it might have been a Willow Warbler.

It was when I had filled up the birdbath in the garden that I noticed some small birds using it for their morning shower. Sparrows, Dunnocks and this other smaller pale yellow bird with a dark streak of feathers across its eye. I knew I’d seen it last year about this time and was certain it was a Willow Warbler. I grabbed the first camera I saw and put the Tamron lens on it. By the time I got back to the kitchen window it had disappeared, but the other birds were still there, having a great time splashing in the water. I took a few shots of them, but kept one eye open for the new bird. It appeared working its way along the rail of the fence and behind the Rowan tree. I’m not usually the most patient person, but I waited until I had a clear view of it and then rattled off four or five shots, one of which became PoD. One in the bag before lunch! That’s not bad going.

After lunch I processed the pictures and indeed I had a fairly clear view of the new bird. It was clear enough and that meant I didn’t have to go for a walk today, which was good because it wasn’t the most inspiring day with a featureless white sky and no sign of the sun shining through. Instead I started cooking today’s dinner which was diced steak that had been lingering in the freezer for quite some time. Just for a change I made it in the Instant Pot using a version of a recipe I’d found online. After a dodgy start where the meat had to be eased off the bottom of the pot, I set it to ‘Slow Cooker’ mode. I set for two hours, with half a bottle of beer to give it something to absorb while it was cooking.

Meanwhile, Scamp was in the garden chopping up a yellow Candelabra Primula into three separate pieces and then potted the pieces up into three separate pots because it was definitely restricted in the original one. After that she walked down to the shops to get some things for tonight’s dinner.

As the afternoon progressed, it seemed to get darker and the clouds got heavier, but the rain held off until much later.

The Instant Pot chimed to tell me that it was finished cooking and I set it to ‘Keep Warm’, which it did until dinner time. The stew was served with potatoes and was very good indeed. Scamp’s dinner was Ratatouille with potatoes. Dessert was Tiramisu which was delightful. Not long after that the rain arrived, which is good, because we don’t need to water the garden!!

Spoke to Jamie and he seems to have his week planned out with a day’s holiday and two days working from home. Good to hear that his garden is doing well, even if his tomato plants seem to have picked up blight from somewhere.

It’s still raining here and tomorrow looks wet too. The bird has been ID’d by a birder on Flickr as a Chiffchaff. Thanks for that Andrew.