Wow Two Again.

 

We  a bad weekend by way of Stuart being laid very low for 24 hours after his Swine Flu jab I think he had every symptom on the information sheet he was supplied with. Today with Stuart being recovered again we did not want to stray far from home  just in case Stuart took another bad turn. We decided we would pay  a visit to Vane Farm our local nature reserve. We did try on the 6th of January but we could not get in the car park with all the snow that had not been cleared away. It is a great observatory for winter birding as it is heated and you are inside in the dry and warmth we love it as we admit we are getting soft in our old age. It was a dull day cold with light rain on and off.  The loch is still partially frozen and there is still a lot of snow around on the hills and it looked like some fresh falls on the highest of them.

While we were sitting at the telescopes I was fortunate enough to pick up a Sea Eagle sitting on a branch of a fallen tree at the wide of the loch.  This bird along with some other chicks that hatched last spring were released about fifteen miles away last summer and some of them have been hanging around Loch Leven. ( If you want to Google it on Google earth it is Loch Leven Tayside Scotland.)

As we were watching the sitting eagle another one flew right over the building we were in so we had a beautiful view of one in flight take my word for it they are enormous.

 

I did not take this picture it was one I googled, I did not take my camera today as it was so dull and anyway I could not have got one as good as this.

We had as very enjoyable morning out, it bucked Stuart up no end and to see 2 lovely Sea Eagles on our doorstep practically was such a bonus.  There were ducks and some waders trying to find some open water not in the usual numbers as yet. We are hoping more will return once the loch thaws a bit more.  The ice did not seem to be very thick today not like the 12 " we had two weeks ago.

I think that's about it for today so until the next time take care.      Love,

                                   

19th January 2010 It's Green.

If I am not mistaken the graphic above is green yes that's the colour the grass is just in case you have forgotten. At last half of our garden is clear of snow but in a dreadful state.  There is bits of apple, seeds husks etc all over the ground will have to go out and clean it up. We have had a new bird in the garden these last few day they are the tiny Siskins a lovely little green and yellow bird.  There is a small party of them three males and one female.  The niger seed feeder just holds three of them at a time so the little female just sits and waits her turn. I know its winter but everything looks so dead you feel that it will never recover from four weeks in the deep freeze.

On Sunday past we managed at last to get a walk to the supermarket for a paper and rolls it was the first time we have been able to walk anywhere in our village since the snow came on the 16th of December. There were still some dicey patches and we had to walk on the road some of the way but we got there.

Yesterday we went up to Perth it was sunny and mild what a change the mercury got up to 9c that's about 48f great, it was so good, in the winter it's amazing what a little sunshine does to the spirits.

There is not a lot happening just now doing cosy things like crosswords reading and on the pc but have been enjoying it just fine most of the time.

Stuart is off on Saturday for his Swine flu injection hope he will be ok with that. Well I think that's about it for tonight really don't have mush to say today so till next time.  Love

                                                   

 

Thursday 7th January 2010. Not One But Two

Today we had to head up to Perth as our car was booked into the garage for its first MOT. We have been thinking of cancelling it all week but we had not had snow overnight so we thought we would chance it. All was well and we made it no bother. As we approach Perth we come from high up and descend into the town, beyond the town away to the north the mountains were looking spectacular today with all the snow, it was a complete white world.

After dropping the car off and getting a lift from the garage into town a coffee was called for. After a warming cuppa we wondered if the River was going to be frozen and set off to have a look. There was a bit of ice floating about as you will see from the photo but to our great joy two otters were swimming just below the view point by the time I got the camera out they had swam a bit into the middle of the river but I did manage to get this shot before they disappeared under the water.

It is not an awful clear picture but you can just see the two heads sticking out of the water I have had to crop it to bring them a bit closer you can also see some of the ice floating around too. The River Tay at Perth is still tidal so therefore is still salty which is harder to freeze. This is the first time we have seen otters close up they were just a few feet away to begin with but swam away quickly when they saw us, we were very excited about it.

Here at Loch Leven our loch it totally frozen over, nearby on The Lake of Monteith (the only Lake in Scotland) they are planing on having a Bon Spiel (a Grand Match in curling) tomorrow as the ice is now 8 inches thick it will go ahead if they can get Health and Safety to agree. We wait to see the outcome. A few years ago we were hoping to have a Grand Match here but the ice thawed to quickly. I am sure it is thick enough just now but it has too much snow on it at the moment and it would have to be cleared away before they could curl on it. Where we live curling is very popular and work is about to begin in the village for the National Curling Centre, it is going to be very grand and a big draw to our village.

It was nice to get back today as you know how cold it is,but what a bonus we had seeing the lovely otters in the Tay. Hope you are all keeping warm and safe till next time. Love Joan.

Monday 4th January 2010.

Good Afternoon, having a quiet day after all the festivities yesterday. Stuart had a lovely birthday and really enjoyed himself. We went out with the family for lunch, the first hotel we went to had a telly on with football so we had to leave as it was spoiling our day. We were fine in the Green Hotel. It must have been strange for Richard and Lisa as they both used to work there Richard as a porter in the conference suite and Lisa as a cocktail waitress in fact that is where they met. Changed days, Richard now with HM revenue and Lisa runs her Dad Engineering business it makes town centre fitting eg benches bollards planters etc. Richard just takes our pennies.

We are still snowbound up here as you have maybe seen on the news, in fact Fife our neighbouring county has ran out of salt and folk there are being advised not to travel. Stuart and I were going to try Perth today but we thought better of it and anyway we have to go on Thursday as the car goes in for its first MOT oh joy. We then thought we would walk to the supermarket we managed about 200 yards walking on the road on the hard packed snow but when we got to the main road walking on that would have been too dangerous and the pavement was still deep snow like walking in sand on the beach so we about turned walked back and got in the car.

Took the camera out today and here is the results......

The last picture is one of our bedroom windows which is north facing can you see the icicles hanging. I have not seen this since I was a child living in Dundee when they used to hang down for three or four feet from the high buildings. Bet all the kids are having great fun in Dundee it is the perfect place for sledging as it is all up hill from the river, the whole city is almost built on a hill. I remember it well we used to have a great place to sledge in the middle of the road down a steep hill, it was safe as there was not any traffic in those days when it snowed. According to the weather forecast there is no end in sight for us, to what they call a cold snap we are now on day 19 hardly a snap in my book. Thank goodness we put in our new heating system in September. I have seen gas engineers out a few times around here these last few days. Hope the poor folk have not had too long to wait for a repair with the temperature being so far below zero at nights and only getting to 0c during the day if we are lucky.

I think that's about it for today so till next time take care. Love

2nd January 2010.

So here we are the 2nd day of the new year already. We had a beautiful full moon on New Years eve and we were lucky enough to have a lovely clear sky to see it. They called it a blue moon, I had heard the saying but did not know why we say 'once in a blue moon' but now I know and I was quite intrigued by the reason behind it. In case you do not know (maybe it was just me that did not know) it is because we had two full moons in one month this is really rare in fact we only have 41 of these 'Blue Moons in 100 years. It was so bright on the 31st of December reflected on the snow I literally could have been able to read my book. Stuart and I stood at the back door quite in awe at it were glad we noticed it from the window.

Tomorrow in my dear hubbies 70th birthday. Don't think he is very pleased about it 69 is one thing but 70! We are being taken out to lunch by our son so we are looking forward to that, hope we don't get too much snow overnight and has us unable to get out the drive although Richard has a 4 wheel drive so we should be ok. It seems no time at all since we were both teenagers out first footing on his birthdays as at that time the New Year celebrations went of for a good few days.Happy Birthday Stuart have a lovely day. I just hope I can find one of the two birthday cards I bought for him I lost the first one I bought in October as it is always hard to get a nice card once all the Christmas stuff comes in, so I bought another one, I am sure there is someone in this house that hides things from me I am always losing things.

I have bought him a new Dab Radio as a gift for his birthday he has been looking at them for a long time but we are in a bad reception area and were not hopeful of getting any stations. We used the radio on the television which is good but I felt it was a awful waste of electricity. We had a little radio in the bathroom that we have had for over 30 years and last week it finally gave up the ghost it was sad it was such an old friend. They don't make things like that any more. Unfortunately Stuart feels his new one is too good to go in the bathroom so we are going to buy a new small radio for the bathroom so Stuart can sing along in the shower.

It has been snowing here on and off all day really heavy at times. I have never know snow to lay so long that's been well over two weeks now, usually it's gone in a couple of days. I don't know how we are going to get the pavements clear the heaps of snow are about three feet deep and more where people have cleared the snow away from there driveways and I know the little snow plough that does out pavements will not be able to cope with that amount of snow. We cannot get out for a walk just now the best we can do is to go the supermarket to have a walk round there which is not that great, oh to get my legs stretched.

This has turned into a bit of a book tonight hope you enjoyed all my news so till next time take care and keep cosy. Love

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