Hobbies and Crafts

Gill, ask Sandra to look up Chaffinch in her bird book! We saw two at breakfast today. Mr and Mrs! Our bird table is a hive of activity, mostly in the morning. The two Robins are backwards and forwards, the blue tits + Great tits are as busy as the ever, a pair of wagtails are regular visitors, as well as two hedge sparrows. They are such time wasters but its great to see them! This morning we saw a couple of deer making their way along the hedgerow in the field opposite which sent the pheasants off, squawking indignantly as they went!
The weather is much colder this evening so who knows who will turn up tomorrow!
We're both free of coughs and colds - so far! fingers crossed it stays that way!!

Ann ,I think there is a bit of depression too :-(. I looked up Post Viral Fatigue and this is definitely what he is suffering from.It is not nice seeing him like this and he is not that easy to live with either right now :-S. I must be patient and understanding :-D
Someone reversed into his car today too which hasn't helped !!!!.

The window cleaners came today and took the window feeder off but they had put it where it tipped over and all the food spilled out :-S. The little birds were all hopping around on the ground and Thomas was lurking ready to pounce !!!. Thankfully there was no kill and the feeder is back up where it belongs now :-D. I wish I had the Long Tailed Tits,but there is no sign of them around here at the moment.
I did see 2 Ducks fly over the house earlier :-D and I haven't seen Ducks for ages.

If Chris had flu Jane then the exhaustion can go on a while, viruses also tend to cause mild depression as well and added to the gloomy days at the moment that is possibly why he has no energy or enthusiasm. I do hope he feels better soon because it is so hard on both of you. so far my OH's cough is just that, it is worse as soon as he comes indoors but he played a whole round of golf (18 holes) with not problem this morning, said he didn't cough at all. (actually he probably didn't notice being engrossed in the golf (his team didn't win!!

Gill sometimes the birds seem impervious to noise unless it is sudden and makes them jump, if it is constant they may get used to it.. We don't seem to have many birds today, must be they don't like the rain and wind.

Vera pleased to hear there is no lasting effect on the dog, I don't suppose he will remember what caused it so they still need to keep chocolate out of his way.
Sorry you have caught OH's cold, theya re so generous aren't they. I am trying to keep out of the way of my OH's bugs but it is difficult.

What a shame you couldn't make it to see your Granddaughter Vera. I hope the cough is easing a bit now for you, there's nothing worse and it keeps you awake at night to. My OH slept during the day over Christmas as he was exhausted with all the coughing and couldn't get a decent nights sleep for a while.It does look like Jane has all the birds at the moment.

They must be lovely to watch Jane. I'm surprised we've had some birds here with all the goings on next door. We've even had one or two Blackbirds drinking from our new water feature. I think they'll use it for bathing when the warmer weather is here. The Goldfinch hasn't been back after the other day, but hopefully he'll return soon.

Sorry to hear Chris is still not well Jane, hope it doesn't last as long as you when you were at your worse.

I do think we probably have your share of the birds here Vera :-D. It has been very busy today on the window feeder. One thing I am quite pleased about is that we dont seem to have so many Magpies at the moment.
I'm sorry you have this horrible winter cold and cough . It is still lingering here after several weeks :-S :-S and I think OH is suffering from post viral fatigue which apparently can last for weeks :-S :-S. What a shame you had to miss your Granddaughter's performance. But you were right not to go as coughing is the worst thing to have . I remember some years ago now I went to a show in London when I had a barking cough and I heard the people in front of me complain about having someone coughing down their backs !!!. I apologised profusely and said I wasn't doing it on purpose. But felt I had to leave my seat and just stand at the back of the theatre by the door so I could get out quick when I had a coughing fit .
I have a feeling my Son and his girlfriend went to see something called X a couple of years ago ,and yes it was weird LOL

Lots of lovely Hooting Owl sounds here again tonight :-D

Well, we seem to be a bird free zone again and I cannot see why. Even the suet balls aren’t being touched at the moment. I did see a couple of blackbirds in the garden so I took the cage off the ground feeder and they did have a good go at the mealworms but there just don’t seem to be other birds around. Where are they all? I think Jane and Ann have kidnapped them all.

You asked about daughter’s dog after the Christmas chocolate episode. He was fine within hours. As we got him to the vet so quickly, she was able to deal with it by simply making him sick until she was sure there was nothing left, then daughter had to put a charcoal liquid in his food for a couple of days.

Unfortunately OH managed to pass this horrid winter cough and cold on to me so at the moment I feel a bit like death warmed up :-(. We were supposed to be going to Cambridge last Saturday to see granddaughter in a production but had to drop out. As it was part of her assessed work at uni (she is doing Drama and Film). I felt it wouldn’t be fair on her or her fellow students if they had to compete with me coughing nonstop. I was disappointed though. Not sure I would have understood it as it was apparently a very modern play called X and was rather weird :-S

I can see I'm going to learn a lot from this thread Ann as I don't know many bird names, that's why I bought the bird feeder so Sandra and I can learn, the book I bought her is helpful to. We have just noticed a new bird and when you mentioned Goldfinches I Googled it and it looks like the one we've just seen. It's the first time we've seen one of those and Sandra is hoping it comes back.

The scaffolding has just been put up next door so I assume they'll be starting the roof tomorrow. I remember all the noise a year ago when the neighbour on our other side had his roof done, so I doubt they'll be many birds coming to our garden until that job is out of the way, but hopefully once all the noisy jobs are done the Goldfinch will come back again along with all the other birds. The Starlings were back again this morning making a lot of noise as they fight each other to get to the food.......they certainly don't have very good table manners do they? lol :-D :-D

I was watching the goldfinches this morning, for little birds they are quite aggressive. There were 3 on the niger seed feeders and one was on the no mess feeder usually used by blue and great tits. When a great tit tried to get seed the little goldfinch attacked him. That happened twice. We have also had a male black cap on the fat balls this morning.
I have had more time to watch them as OH is putting in a new pc for me, talk about making your brain hurt, all the passwords needed to put in. Still not sure if we have managed to sort out my gmail address so fully expecting a problem with that.

Ann, I'm learning quite a lot about birds on this thread, I had no idea all the squabbling was over territories. Do they also squabble with each other over the females?

We can't buy any meal worms in our village so have to travel quite a distance to get hold of them, so recently I've mixed them with a mix of bird seeds to make them go further, which seems to have brought lots of different birds into our garden, it's so nice to see Robins and Sparrows and there are a lot more tits around to. We haven't seen as many Starlings around though since the change, I think that's why the little ones are coming more often now. The Blackbirds are still mulling around underneath the feeder eating all the dropped seeds, so all in all the birds are quite happy. I keep changing the water but so far haven't seen any birds drink from it, although I have seen a Blackbird drink from the water feature which was quite amusing to see, when he titled his head back to swallow.

Vera I trust the dog is ok now? and I did see that you were over the migraine, obviously the excitement of Christmas was all too much for you.

Gill the blackbirds will be gearing up for spring now and starting to claim their territories. we have about 4 that frequent our garden, they have been ok but are starting to squabble and chase each other, actually we have five, one female, four males!! Should be quite a contest.

Jane, I see from Mel's thread that your OH still has man flu. Good job yours has not lasted as long or there would be no meals. They do say that doctors are among those who make the worst patients Lol!!! Hope he is fit and well again soon. :-) :-)

Hello Kandj it's nice to see you on here again. Sorry to hear about your long standing neighbour, I hope the rest of 2019 is better for you <3 It sounds like Katie had a lovely 18th birthday. I find as I get older the time passes much quicker than it did as a child, last year seemed to fly by in a flash.

Oh dear Vera sorry to hear about your daughter's dog, I assume he's okay with no lasting effects from the chocolate. What a worrying time for everyone. That was nice that everyone waited for your return so you could all eat together. I had to smile when you asked if Sandra could make your Christmas dinner next year, she was so nervous when I asked her if she'd like to do the dinner, but was so chuffed when she did it , it was the best Turkey we'd had in years. Sorry to hear you had a bad migraine, they're no joke are they? Pleased to see you're feeling better now.

Having a flu jab next winter sounds like a good idea Jane, you have been ill for so long it'll probably help to keep the bugs away. At least you're coming out the other side now. An infra Red Camera sounds like a good idea of Ann's, imagine how lovely it would be to see all the nightly wildlife, especially if you could set the camera up to a monitor.

We've had lots of various birds coming and going on the feeder since the builders stop working next door. Sandra is thrilled to see them all. Talking of squabbling Blackbirds Jane, we had the same here with a few male ones. The Starlings are still making lots of noise and fighting over the meal worms, much to Sandra's amusement. :-) She thinks they are so funny.

Kandj how lovely to see you. It really has been a hard year for you, maybe the celebration of Katie’s eighteenth will herald better times, I home 2019;will bring you good health and, if not happiness, contentment.

They do grow up so quickly, our eldest grandchild (grandson) is 30 now, difficult to believe he is the father of two. <3 <3

Hello all. I haven't read back but I just popped in to wish you all Good Health and much Happiness to everyone for 2019.

All the firsts of everything have been and gone thank goodness and I don't have the words to describe how awful it has been. Another death and funeral is looming on Friday! Thankfully not a relative, but a long standing neighbour. It is not at all how I would wish this 2019 to begin with.

Friday 4th January we all had a happy day helping our lovely Katie celebrate her 18th birthday.... a few tearful moments first thing but lots of hugs and laughter to follow on. We all wonder how our special little one grew up so fast. I blinked and Katie is now a young adult, and I am feeling like a very old (but blessed) Nana.

Vera it sounded quite a gathering for your Christmas. So many people and sooooo many dogs!!. It must have been a very noisy and hectic time and the nthe emergency trip to the Vets with the poor dog. I take it he is ok with no lasting effects after eating the chocolate . I am not surprised you had a dreadful migraine . I am sorry it was a really bad one . It sounds like it has really knocked you for 6 :-S

I am a dab hand at injections :-D..I must have done thousands .So giving Chris his flu jab every year was a doddle. :-D. I really think though that next winter we should go and have them done . We are both still quite under the weather and coughing and full of mucous .But coming out the other side now :-D. So many people are starting 2019 with this awful Winter Cold :-S

I have seen lots of Robins today and plenty of Blackbirds.

Belated Happy New Year everyone. I've just been catching up on threads.

Sandra did very well to cook Christmas dinner. It's a big job so good for her. Would she like to cook ours next year? :-D

Jane, your daughter and sil sound as though they are having a wonderful time. I hope you are feeling much better now. Like Ann, I had a laugh at the thought of you and OH giving each other the 'flu jab. :-D :-D

Our birds have all left home but that is probably because they haven't been fed since 23rd December till today. Hopefully now that I can get back into regular feeding they will start to return. I quite miss my little sparrows.

As you know we went to our son's in Yorkshire for Christmas with various members of our family and dil's family and 5 dogs. Buster did not look happy at this invasion of his home but he is such a gentle giant that he didn't make much fuss. The real problem was one of our daughter's dogs. He is a very nervous dog anyway and is on a special restricted diet and medication as his pancreas only works 10%. Everyone knew not to leave food where he could reach it but the 8 year old forgot and left chocolate on her bed and the bedroom door open. You're ahead of me aren't you? Yep...he got the chocolate :-|

You probably know chocolate is poisonous for dogs and can be fatal and he is a dog whose innards don't work anyway. Daughter found the emergency vet was at Bradford, a good half hour's drive away and she was already quite stressed so I couldn't let her go alone. She and I spent Christmas afternoon at the vets, thinking we would go back to warmed up dinners but everyone waited for us and we all sat down together which was lovely.

We came back on 28th Dec and had visitors for a light lunch on 30th. While I was talking to the husband I could see the stripes on his shirt waving in and out and knew I was in for a migraine. I didn't realise it was going to be the worst one I have had for years :-( I took my pills and went to bed as soon as our visitors left at 3 on Sunday and eventually managed to stagger up for a couple of hours yesterday. Today I have been up all day and I have managed to eat some dinner but I feel drained and exhausted.

At Christmas four of the people had variants of coughs/colds. Now OH has got it so he has had a couple of unwell days but says he is feeling a lot better today. I am hoping it is not coming my way.

Not a brilliant start to 2019 - it can only get better.

One nice thing to end this long post. One of our Christmas presents was a solitary bee box with a booklet about the solitary bee and some special bee friendly wildflower seeds. I don't know much about the solitary bee, except that it is non-agressive and a good pollinator so I am looking forward to finding some time next week to read up about them and find a good spot for the box.

You need an infra red camera set up Jane. Definitely sounds as if you should have the flu jab Jane. I have a funny picture in my head now of the two of you advancing with needles. I am assuming you were a nurse in a previous life as no way would my OH allow me near him with a syringe. :-D

We have at least three male and one female blackbirds in the garden at the moment.

Ann, no flu jab. The last flu jab I had was when OH was still working and he brought the jabs home. I did his and he did mine :-D.. I think next year I might just take the offer up of having one.

We have had a lot of feisty Blackbirds today. Lots of squabbles going on.They all looked like quite young birds ,but all Male.
Last night when I went out the back to call Thomas in I could hear a Fox and Owls ,all very close to our garden .I could follow the Fox's 'bark' as it went along the back of our garden to the neighbours.There must be so much wildlife here at night and yet we see nothing :-S It would be so fascinating to see what goes on at night.

Pleased to see you have some meds now Jane, hopefully you'll be back to normal in no time. I'd love to take a photo of the water feature but I'm not sure what I'm doing to get them off my camera and onto the laptop. I'll have a read of the info booklet again to see if it makes more sense second time around. I got so confused the first time I read it so gave up. I'm really not very good with technical things.

Thinking of Kandj. Happy 18th birthday to her Granddaughter.

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 Kandj Hope your granddaughter has a lovely 18th

Jane here's hoping that the meds will all work Did you have a flu jab?

Thanks Ann for that info about Xmas Trees. Funily enough I saw exactly the same some where ,so we put the tree out a few days ago now. I am still not sure though if it aggravated my cough.
I am just back fro mt he Drs with Antibiotics and Menthoi Crystals,so I am hoping that I will be on the mend soon.

Gill,you sound very happy with your new water feature :-D. it will be easier once you can get he timer fitted rather than havign to keep going in and out to turn it on and off.
Do you think you would be able to take a pic of it?

Yesterday was the 1st Anniversary of Kandj's dear Hubbys passing.It will have been a difficult day ,but I know she is with her Daughter and family so she wont be on her own. Thinking of you Kandj <3 <3 <3. Today is her Granddaughters 18th so something nice to celebrate :-D