I'm getting on with it, this is as far as I've got. There's a lot more to do! It's not quite as blue as this in real life.
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
It's HOT!
We're in the middle of a heatwave! It's impossible to walk outside now without shoes. Although there was a cloud yesterday, which was nice, it's blue skies and very hot sun!
Happily all our cats and dogs are sensible enough to keep themselves out of the sun. Bobbins and Dumpling are two we have to watch, as their noses are short and therefore the air doesn't get a chance to cool down as they breathe and they can overheat. But both of them are more than happy to lie down hugging the floor when it's hot.
We watched a really nice video about parrots the other day. It was about pet parrots in America and the challenges that are faced all round. Because parrots can live until they are 80, people don't realize the commitment they have to make. And also there's still a trade in wild parrots. And, of course, there's the issue of birds not really being domesticated and they haven't evolved for life in a cage. The video was well done because it was very well balanced.
The video was really good and gave us an insight into Larry's life. I am so glad we have the lovebirds as one of the biggest problems the video said 'companion' parrots face is loneliness. Before he came to us he was in an outdoor building so he must have been really lonely and bored. At least before we had the lovebirds he was in the middle of things - and now he has the lovebirds next door to him so he's got a small flock. And they definitely communicate. When we move we'll have them all in together.
I did wonder if we should try to find him a mate, as in the wild they mate for life. However, that could go wrong for so many reasons.
The reason why I was looking for a video was because I had seen Larry untying knots. I saw him do it once and thought it was a fluke. But I've seen him do it over and over again, so I was looking for ideas for toys and things we could make him which might include a knot or two because he's obviously very clever.
Or so I thought...
That was when I found that untying knots was in fact pretty basic in the parrot world. In the video we watched there were some parrots who could tell colours apart. They would be asked to select the red toy or even put a blue toy into a certain shape, and they'd do it. I think that might be beyond Larry!
Happily all our cats and dogs are sensible enough to keep themselves out of the sun. Bobbins and Dumpling are two we have to watch, as their noses are short and therefore the air doesn't get a chance to cool down as they breathe and they can overheat. But both of them are more than happy to lie down hugging the floor when it's hot.
We watched a really nice video about parrots the other day. It was about pet parrots in America and the challenges that are faced all round. Because parrots can live until they are 80, people don't realize the commitment they have to make. And also there's still a trade in wild parrots. And, of course, there's the issue of birds not really being domesticated and they haven't evolved for life in a cage. The video was well done because it was very well balanced.
The video was really good and gave us an insight into Larry's life. I am so glad we have the lovebirds as one of the biggest problems the video said 'companion' parrots face is loneliness. Before he came to us he was in an outdoor building so he must have been really lonely and bored. At least before we had the lovebirds he was in the middle of things - and now he has the lovebirds next door to him so he's got a small flock. And they definitely communicate. When we move we'll have them all in together.
I did wonder if we should try to find him a mate, as in the wild they mate for life. However, that could go wrong for so many reasons.
The reason why I was looking for a video was because I had seen Larry untying knots. I saw him do it once and thought it was a fluke. But I've seen him do it over and over again, so I was looking for ideas for toys and things we could make him which might include a knot or two because he's obviously very clever.
Or so I thought...
That was when I found that untying knots was in fact pretty basic in the parrot world. In the video we watched there were some parrots who could tell colours apart. They would be asked to select the red toy or even put a blue toy into a certain shape, and they'd do it. I think that might be beyond Larry!
Thursday, July 14, 2016
Bat.... Bird......Bird..... Bird....Bat.....ISS
One of my favourite things about this time of year is when we are sat out in the evening, saying 'bird', 'bat', 'bat', 'bird' as the birds and bats flutter round together. There's a short 5 minute or so window, when they are out together. It's difficult to tell them apart, but when you look you can see birds gliding gracefully and bats flapping round like mad things. Hence the random cries of 'bird', 'bat' etc.
We've been here for 10 years and EVERY YEAR at least several times in the summer, I ask Ian what he thinks the birds think of bats - with their wings on backwards.
So, I was a little surprised when recently, Ian said to me 'do you think that birds think that bats are birds with their wings on backwards'. I assumed he was joking and taking the mickey out of me, because this is something I say a lot. But apparently not. I wonder what else he's filtered out!
When we first spent the evening outside earlier this summer, we saw a moving 'thing' in the sky. I've got an ISS (international space station - not a terrorist group) app on my phone which says when it's flying over, so we looked at that, and it was, indeed (and probably thankfully), the space station. The next night we asked when it was going over, looked at the app, looked in the sky - and there it was. But the strange thing is, the first three or so nights it was there almost 'on demand'. Finish tea - look in the sky - see space station. But since then it's going over at other times, and I'm not that interested in it to get up in the night to see it! So what a coincidence that our first evenings sitting outside coincided with the space station going over at tea time.
We've been here for 10 years and EVERY YEAR at least several times in the summer, I ask Ian what he thinks the birds think of bats - with their wings on backwards.
So, I was a little surprised when recently, Ian said to me 'do you think that birds think that bats are birds with their wings on backwards'. I assumed he was joking and taking the mickey out of me, because this is something I say a lot. But apparently not. I wonder what else he's filtered out!
When we first spent the evening outside earlier this summer, we saw a moving 'thing' in the sky. I've got an ISS (international space station - not a terrorist group) app on my phone which says when it's flying over, so we looked at that, and it was, indeed (and probably thankfully), the space station. The next night we asked when it was going over, looked at the app, looked in the sky - and there it was. But the strange thing is, the first three or so nights it was there almost 'on demand'. Finish tea - look in the sky - see space station. But since then it's going over at other times, and I'm not that interested in it to get up in the night to see it! So what a coincidence that our first evenings sitting outside coincided with the space station going over at tea time.
Monday, July 11, 2016
Storms!
Last Wednesday and Thursday there were storm warnings. On Wednesday there was an electrical storm bouncing around, and - quite literally - six drops of rain (Ian and I felt three each when we were sat outside in the evening). On Thursday afternoon the rain came - it was proper Extremaduran rain, but we didn't have any hail, which is always the problem - and we didn't flood so I didn't think there were too many problems.
So I was a little surprised to see this photo of Bienvenida:
where the whole of the center of the village flooded.
But it did remind me of the first time Mum and Dad visited and we experienced proper Extremaduran rain. After, Mum and Dad went out for a walk and we asked them where they had been, and they said along side the river. Which confused us because there isn't a river here. However, we hadn't experienced the storm drains after proper rain - they do become proper rivers!
There are other photos of cars which got washed into ditches, into trees etc by the strength of the water. Of course, because there's no wooden floor boards or skirting boards, and because electric cables in homes are hand height, there would be very little damage. Also, the flooding was caused by massive hail stones blocking drains, so the water ran away quickly when it they melted, so there's no standing water, So the clean-up would be annoying, but nothing in comparison with Carlisle.
There are lots of photos in the news website showing pictures of the hail - this is what causes the problem. It's generally hail that used to make us flood - it blocks the drains and there's nothing you can do. The raised back step has made a huge difference.
So we got off very lightly!
Things are back to normal now with the weather forecast showing lots of smiley suns for the foreseeable future.
So I was a little surprised to see this photo of Bienvenida:
where the whole of the center of the village flooded.
But it did remind me of the first time Mum and Dad visited and we experienced proper Extremaduran rain. After, Mum and Dad went out for a walk and we asked them where they had been, and they said along side the river. Which confused us because there isn't a river here. However, we hadn't experienced the storm drains after proper rain - they do become proper rivers!
There are other photos of cars which got washed into ditches, into trees etc by the strength of the water. Of course, because there's no wooden floor boards or skirting boards, and because electric cables in homes are hand height, there would be very little damage. Also, the flooding was caused by massive hail stones blocking drains, so the water ran away quickly when it they melted, so there's no standing water, So the clean-up would be annoying, but nothing in comparison with Carlisle.
There are lots of photos in the news website showing pictures of the hail - this is what causes the problem. It's generally hail that used to make us flood - it blocks the drains and there's nothing you can do. The raised back step has made a huge difference.
So we got off very lightly!
Things are back to normal now with the weather forecast showing lots of smiley suns for the foreseeable future.
Wednesday, July 06, 2016
Beeswax update
I think I know why bleached beeswax is so expensive. Here is the latest in my beeswax quest, the bleached beeswax has been melted into blocks however that appears to be a lot of black gunk on the bottom which now needs to be sliced off. I then need to re melt it with damar resin
Goodness me, what a job!
