Hobbies and Crafts

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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. :-) :-)

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.

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.

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

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 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

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.

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.

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.

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!!

Funny you should mention ducks Jane, we noticed loads of them together flying southwards the other week, what a racket they made, but a wonderful sight to see. You'd of thought the window cleaners would of been more careful with the window feeder and put it back when they'd finished. Pleased to see Thomas didn't get any of the birds.

The workmen were using a nail gun Ann, so that might explain why the birds weren't to keen on coming to the feeder. After a few crazy days of workmen activity there is no one here today so we've filled the feeders up again. Sandra is now waiting to see the birds arrive.

I told Sandra what you said Liz and she's going to take a look in her book. The Goldfinch never came back, or if it did we haven't seen it. Hopefully though he'll return at some point.

I've noticed we have a lot of birds going into the large Red Robin we bought, they then go to the feeder from there. I should imagine with the plants being so big they feel safe and hidden. It's nice to see so many different birds going to and fro from the feeder to the plant, the feeder is only about 4 foot away so not far for them to fly back and forth. I did notice a few little birds on the feeder this morning including a Robin which we haven't seen much of lately. I expect the cold weather is encouraging them, we had snow yesterday and there is more forecast for next week, so I need to keep an eye out and make sure the feeder is well stocked for them.

Hope you weren't standing underneath when all the ducks flew over gill, could have been nasty :-D

The nail gun would have frightened the birds Gill as it would have sounded like a shotgun I suppose.

You said that the birds are flying to and from the Red robin from the feeder Gill, Blue and Great Tits always seem to pick out a seed and take it to a branch of a bush or tree to eat it. I think they must hold it against the branch to grip it. We watch them doing it in the apple tree so maybe that is why some of them fly to the red robin. others, as you say, will be using it as a launch pad for shelter.

Chaffinches are lovely, we don't get many here, when we do they seem to prefer ground feeding.

There are a few more birds appearing again now, mostly sparrows and starlings. The starlings are so greedy and eat all the mealworms before the robin or the blackbirds can get near them. There was one lonely blue tit on the peanuts this morning.

Our birds are very fussy about the seed feeders. They only really like an old one which is just a clear plastic tube that slots into a base and has a lid. Unfortunately the base is rusting and flaking so I need to get some new ones. I’ve got a nice one that looks very similar but they just refuse to take the seeds from it. It may be because they have to put their heads inside more and maybe they don’t feel safe like that. I also have a very strong attractive looking one that they don’t mind but it will take the weight of the pigeons and they eat all the seeds and keep the little birds away.

Yesterday we toured round all the garden centres, supermarkets, pet shops etc but all they have are the sorts I’ve already got. I ended up buying another cheap one to try (£5 and it was already filled with seeds) but so far it has been totally ignored.

Are your birds as fussy as ours? :-|

Yes Vera it takes ages for them to accept a new feeder, I think it may be that they see anything strange as danger. All the garden centres seem to have the same sorts these days don't they?

I don't seem to have any fusspots Vera. Although saying that I did put a Nigerseed feeder up one year and the only thing that visited that was the blooming Squirrel :-S. It broke the feeder so all the seeds ended up on the ground.
I bought a coconut shell with suet yesterday which I will hang on a tree branch down the garden ,but I have no doubt it will be the Squirrel that will get to it first.
The one thing I never use now are net bags with peanuts or anything as some little birds get their feet caught and get tangled and can die hanging there :-(

We have a bit of snow . The lawn is covered as it the patio table but the ground is very wet so I can't really see it lasting too long.