Friday at the Flicks - Blackbird, Snow

This morning a female Blackbird sat close to me as I struggled to undo the frozen bolt on the back gate so we could go walkies. I sometimes get the feeling she is reminding me it is time to top up the seed feeders. The video clip was taken a few days ago as a female Blackbird came very close to pick up the seed and mini suet sticks I had dropped:



The snow from Wednesday night slowly melted on Thursday and had nearly all gone by late afternoon when a short sharp snow shower covered everything again. As soon as the cloud had passed through there was a sparkling pale blue sky for a short while:



Have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you and take care in bad weather.

A Touch of the White Stuff

Occasional flurries of snow at tea time have gradually lengthened to more persistent snowfall.
This taken just before bedtime as the temperature dipped towards freezing:



Good job I salted the paths earlier but I think I will need my shoe spikes for our morning walkies.

My Feathered Buddies

When I am topping up the seed feeders on days when the temperature is near freezing I am always joined by two birds. A female Blackbird comes within a couple of feet of me picking up the seed I drop on the floor. A Robing is not quite as bold but will wait on the nearby fence and occasionally dart in to grab a seed:

 

Macro on Monday - Guess What

The virtual Midmarsh Gold Star and my congratulations go to just one person this week. Wilma got it exactly correct saying it was the +ve end of a battery.

    

Maybe this wek's mystery photo might be a little easier to puzzle out.
Guess What:
 

Please leave any guesses in the comments.
They, along with the answer, will be revealed next Monday.
No prizes, just for fun and possibly a virtual Midmarsh Gold or Silver Star.


Penny Progress
She continues to heal well. It will take quite a while for the repairs to reach full strength. Penny is back to playing with her toys and reminding me when it's time for walkies. It is a good job it is Winter as she is satisfied to be indoors most of the time. I have spent some time gradually clearing ground ready to install the new fencing which arrived in less than 24hrs after ordering it. I just have to get round to making a couple of gates then I can erect everything.

Another Good Day
It's nearly a year since I bought the MacBook but only found out today that my copy of Photoshop Elements 10 had installation disks for the Mac as well as Windozy so I now have that in use again. It was like finding an old trusted friend when I fired it up. Now I need to remember and find the add ons I used with it on the PC.

A brilliant sight a couple of mornings ago. It is ages since I saw a Barn Owl. I often saw them hunting along the deep ditches and dykes on the drive to work. This time I was quite surprised to see one fly straight across the village while out for our early morning perambulation. It was only half light so not a photographic opportunity but great to see one around the village for the first time in the 40+ years I have lived here.

Friday at the Flicks - Driving Hazards

These day I have the iPod Touch recording every car journey I make. If there are no incidents of note I delete the recording. Coming back from the Vets yesterday saw a couple of hazards. The first, second on the video clips, was a pair of horse riders. I would think I meet things like that one in four journeys. Horse riders are not a problem. Just needs a bit of patience and slow wide manoeuvring to pass them safely.

The second, first clip, is more of a problem. An arrogant, impatient HGV driver who pulled out of a side turning, marked with give way signs, right in front of me. I had to brake and pull over to the side of the road to avoid hitting him. Such idiots are a real danger to all other drivers and as far as I am concerned should be banned for life from ever driving any sort of vehicle.




More good news this morning - I had to go for a check up on my blood pressure. Local docs have been trying to tame this for over a decade. It looks as though the latest combination of drugs is working as today's reading was a mere 125/74, the best ever for me. I did ask whether the monitor was broken.  Go near a hospital and I have easily achieved 200+/90+ in the past.

Bad Day, Good Day

Nodded off in the chair last night. Woke up about 3.30 in the morning and wandered through to the kitchen. What was that drip, drip, drip I could hear? Saw water near the sink, looked up to see if it was coming through the ceiling. No - sigh of relief for that. Investigate, both bottom cupboards under the sink running with water.  Eventually traced the leak to the under sink water filter. It appeared the O ring had sprung a link. Fortunately that has its own stop tap so I could easily shut off the water to the filter. Lots of mopping up and out with the vax carpet cleaner to suck up most. Good job I did go through there earlier than usual.

This morning was also when Penny was due to be seen by Mike to check her progress. He was very pleased and took all her stitches out so that should be more comfortable for her. Apparently there are also layers of self dissolving stitches under the surface. Anyway she doesn't need to be seen again for three or four months to check on her teeth so that was a good end to the morning.

Penny finishing off lunch, hair beginning to grow:



Clicking the photo will take you to Flickr for a larger version if you so wish.

Topped up with petrol on the way home. My usual £25 fill gave near three quarters of a tank as opposed to the half tank I had been getting so the drop in petrol price seems to have made a good saving.

Ouch, That's Cold

Starling on the frozen bird bath: