Early Risers.

[AndyID]

6 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

A relatively warm (59°F) good night to awl from the Piedmont.

 

Not too cold here either. It's 30F but it hasn't stopped snowing all day. Looks like 5 inches now and it's still coming.

[BR60103]

14 hours ago, polybear said:

 

 

I wonder who's pulling the strings in that marriage.....

 

If you have to wonder, you're probably single.

 

[AndyID]

Looks like the snow is easing off for now. The electric snow-chucker was deployed on the deck. It worked quite well but the snow was more than six inches deep. It would probably do a lot better at four inches or less.

[AndyID]

6 hours ago, brianusa said:

 

Just seeing if anybody was paying attention!

     Brian.

 

Clearly you've mistaken us for people who have better things to do.

[BR60103]

Tonight the new posts stretched over 6 pages.

We had a crowd out at the Opera Group to watch a video of Die Fledermaus. And I think we were all still there at 10:00.

 

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Dry and breezy here. Sunshine and showers a possibility.

I'm off to Stevenage today all being well and trains permitting.  However I'm feeling a bit carp at the moment so will see how I feel in a couple of hours.

Just for once I didn't watch the rugby last night as the last couple of times I've watched Quins they've been awful. They seem to do better when I'm not watching! One season a few years ago I bought a season ticket and went regularly to support them. That was the year they got relegated!     

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

 

 

 

 

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl,  inner Temple Hare, 

6.5 hours of sleep,  reasonably solid.  But I've woken with a sore throat and headache hopefully it's just temporary. 

 

Ben's the desperate Collie is wanting out.... 

 

Ben,  found a the scent of something by the house, and spent sometime wandering around following it,  before heading down the garden,  for the normal purpose.   Now we are back in he doesn't seem settled,  but I don't know why.  Very breezy out there,  dry overcast,  but the clouds brightened by the wolf moon,  I was glad Ben's route kept us sheltered from the wind. 

 

I'm now supping a Muggacoffee,  while settling for my first solo BP test, after which an attempt at more sleep may occur. 

I will then have bacon and eggs for breakfast,  as its now an approved meal,  for diabetics,  whereas 12years ago it was highly discouraged. ( too much fat and cholesterol) 

 

Later,  sand and repaint the tool box,  sand and repaint the bulges of the boat. 

 

Time to,  press a button. 

 

 

 

 

[AndyID]

9 hours ago, Debs. said:

Two of my favourite Welsh words:

Elliw (The arrival of Spring) 

Hiraeth (Longing - particularly for home) 

 

.....and a four-line Englyn, about the Sheepdog:

 

Y Ci Defaid
(Thomas Richards) 
"Rhwydd gamwr hawdd ei gymell–i'r mynydd,
A'r mannau anghysbell;
Hel a didol diadell
Yw camp hwn yn y cwm pell"

.....and a rough transl. which can't do justice to the beauty of the sentiment, or strict poetic metre. 

 

"The Sheep Dog
A fast strider, his coercion easy -- to the mountain
And the remote places;
To gather a scattered flock
Is an achievement in the far Valley" 

 

Oi! Watch it. There's no peomtry here at all (or at all, at all in Ireland). Just for that here's a bit of McGoonagall (topical seeing as its January.

 

Immortal Robert Burns of Ayr,
There’s but few poets can with you compare;
Some of your poems and songs are very fine:
To “Mary in Heaven” is most sublime;
And then again in your “Cottar’s Saturday Night,”
Your genius there does shine most bright,
As pure as the dewdrops of night.

Your “Tam o’ Shanter’ is very fine,
Both funny, racy, and divine,
From John o’ Groats to Dumfries
All critics consider it to be a masterpiece,
And, also, you have said the same,
Therefore they are not to blame.

And in my own opinion both you and they are right,
For your genius there does sparkle bright,
Which I most solemnly declare
To thee, Immortal Bard of Ayr!

Your “Banks and Braes of Bonnie Doon”
Is sweet and melodious in its tune,
And the poetry is moral and sublime,
And in my opinion nothing can be more fine.

Your “Scots wha hae wi’ Wallace bled”
Is most beautiful to hear sung or read;
For your genius there does shine as bright,
Like unto the stars of night….

Immortal Bard of Ayr! I must conclude my muse
To speak in praise of thee does not refuse,
For you were a mighty poet, few could with you compare,
And also an honour to Scotland, for your genius it is rare.

 

 

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Woooòppppiiiiiidddddooooo! The Euromillions have sent me notice of a big win.....£10.40! Just about covers the price of the ticket....but better than nowt.

 

Mugatea being drunk then I need to load the car and try and convince the security guard att Headingley to let me park in their car park..a not too easy to accomplish feat! (These are the same people who yold me I had to move a Challenger 2 as it blocked a car parking "space"....my response was " do we drive over the Jaguar or Bentley parked in front of it?? They still remeber me as public enemy number 1.

 

I hope all ERs have a great day.

 

GDB I hope you feel well enough to go to St Evenage.  When we visited with Grantham there was lots of things to buy!!! If anyone goes can you pass on our regards to BBishop please?

 

Now to finish my mugatea and go and sort Saturday out!

 

Baz

[polybear]

3 hours ago, BR60103 said:

If you have to wonder, you're probably single.

 

 

And the winning Lottery Numbers for next week are.....

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

Not so good, actually.  I have pulled out of my trip to DeFine as I do not feel well enough to tackle the M1 today, thanks to a combination of a sore throat and a head still full of snot.  I propose to spend the day quietly and hope to be well enough to go to Stevenage tomorrow.  It is such a waste of time being ill.

 

Chris

[Ozexpatriate]

4 hours ago, BR60103 said:

Tonight the new posts stretched over 6 pages.

Indeed. I have toiled to catch up, having spent the last two days travelling to Dallas and back.

 

One the way out I was entertained by this egregious parking job.

Who parked first is a mystery. The Acura on the left or the Ford on the right? This is a really nice car park. Parking is angled and roomy.  The double lines are really helpful in maintaining clearance (usually). The clearance between these cars might have been measurable in whole centimetres.

 

When I returned the Acura was replaced by a BMW in almost the same parking attitude.

 

More photos and the return saga to follow.

 

Edited January 11, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[leopardml2341]

Mornin' all.

 

Up an' at 'em

[jamie92208]

12 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Evening all,

 

Incidentally I suspect in having separate mains drainage for rain/surface water apart from the mains draining for less pleasant household output.

 

 

We had separate drains in our last house near Leeds that had been built in 72.

10 hours ago, pH said:

 

From Ogden Nash:

 

The ant has made himself illustrious
Through constant industry industrious.
So what?
Would you be calm and placid
If you were full of formic acid?

I have a vague memory  from a chemistry lesson that formic acid was produced by distilling red ants.  No doubt there is a more modern way now.

 

Anyway good morning to all.  Beth got home safely yesterday though numerous sins of omission and commission are being pointed out to me. We watched a film, The 2 Popes, last night which we enjoyed.  Today will be more shutter painting and sundry other tasks.  No rain today so less mud around.

 

All this talk of 9F's and 4F's reminded me that I have partially built examples of each.

 

Jamie

Edited January 11, 2020 by jamie92208

[BoD]

Morning all.

 

No dog sitting for the next few days so it was straight to the paper shop and back earlier on.  There is a strong wind a’ blowing but fortunately it is from a Southerly-ish direction rather than a Northerly or Nor’easterner.  I fear I will have to force myself to go for a walk.  I love it once I’m out there but on these darker, windy days getting out in the first place becomes less and less attractive, especially with no muzzle nudging me in encouragement.
 

On the other hand I could  just stay in,  ‘muddle’  through the day and watch a bit sport  later.

[Dave Hunt]

Another mixed bag of a day yesterday. Jill went to do her BP check and found it had gone up again so her visit to the GP on Monday may not be as straightforward as she had been hoping. We then walked the mile and a half into town for a coffee, took some stuff to the CRUK charity shop and did a bit of shopping. I was OK walking into and around town but by the time we got home my back was telling me that was all for the day. After lunch we cleaned Jill's car - by that I mean I drove it to the hand car wash then she cleaned the interior - and I got things ready for dinner before spending an hour mo****ing. After dinner I spent two and a half hours hand labelling the front of a control panel, took it to the workshop and varnished it then knocked it off the bench and on to the floor. Guess which side down it landed? 

 

After muggocoffee and some domestic niffnaff and trivia we are off to a garden centre with my Dad and a friend. Fortunately it contains a Hobbycraft branch so while SWMBO and pal are examining things horticultural I'll browse around there and probably spend a few mo****ing tokens. Then it's lunch at the cafe there and after returning home I'll strip the grungy mess off the front of the control panel and start again . With a bit of luck dinner will be a Chinese takeaway so no cooking today.

 

Horace the cat's limp seems to be getting better so it looks like the large wad of mod***ing tokens deposited at the vet's may have been worthwhile.

 

Hope the Stevenage show is a good 'un and those ailing are on the mend. Keep carpeing those diems folks.

 

Dave

Edited January 11, 2020 by Dave Hunt
Typos

[Kingzance]

Morning, grey and windy outside, not looking forward to my duties at daughter’s chateau as quite a bit will be external! Muggertea made and downed, breakfast going down. Wish you all positive vibes...

[Ozexpatriate]

Unlike Ian's trip home from Lonk Eyelant, travelling home was fraught. Serious weather (including the possibilities of tornadoes) was forecast for North Texas today. My meetings were concluded early (people wanted to go home) and I was rebooked on an earlier flight.

 

This was scheduled for 2:50pm. Ultimately, wheels up was 4:30pm.

 

I snapped a picture of my inbound aircraft as it drew up to the gate.

 

It has quite an artsy effect when you zoom in. Apparently my telephone has an outstanding capability to focus on raindrops on windows. (It does have a manual focus setting but this is fussy to set up and I didn't anticipate the raindrop focus.)

 

From onboard my aircraft you can see a better view of the aeroplane to the right (above), destined for Seattle.

Don't let the branding fool you. These aircraft (Embraer 175) are operated by an airline called SkyWest. To escape the oncoming storms and tornadoes, the flight plans exceeded the load/range equation for these small regional jets (even though I had flown down on one the day before).  The Seattle flight would stop in Boise and my flight home would stop in Salt Lake City to be refueled.

 

I had used a lot of the battery on my mobile phone and so turned it off. I wish I hadn't. The sight of thunderstorms in the afternoon sun towering over a cloud deck at around 10,000' was probably the most beautiful view of clouds I have seen - a full-on Maxwell Parrish effect.

 

Our original heading had me confused. (Our course "should" have been northwest, with the sun to the port side, but it was shining barely through the starboard side windows.) We were heading more or less southwest, for quite some time before making a right-hand turn.

 

We finally landed in SLC with a full moon shining on snow covered mountains. The aircraft was quickly refueled - I watched the refueler really hustle. Crew rest rules required a crew change as well. The original crew ended up in the back of the 'plane behind me and I confirmed our circuitous route with one of them who also told me the tops of the thunderstorm wall might have been 37,000'.  Then we sat and waited for our replacement first officer. (We already had a captain.) 

 

At some point I noticed an aircraft parked on the apron. Apparently it was inbound from Seattle and contained our first officer but was unable to park at the gate, because we were at the gate. It had to wait for a flight to depart. (Despite an empty adjacent gate, presumably Alaska has only two gates at SLC.) This process led to about a 70 minute refueling stop (without leaving the 'plane) when the refueler was done in 15 minutes.

 

Finally home. Door to door travel time was about 12 hours. Doors closed to wheels down easily exceeded seven hours (scheduled time is around four and a half).  It's a long time in an E175. (At least there are no middle seats and therefore arguably more comfortable than a 737.)

 

Tornado warnings were issued in the Dallas area late in the day and a funnel cloud was spotted. My original, later flight was cancelled. It's nice to be home and abed.

 

Edited January 11, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[Happy Hippo]

12 hours ago, 81C said:

I could see Zeus rounding up sheep he would leave them in a pile to snack on later.  :-)

With the correct  acclimatisation and training regime, you might be pleasantly surprised:  He is after all a Malinois, which is one of the four Belgian sheep dog varieties.

[Ozexpatriate]

12 hours ago, brianusa said:

Latest update of the weather forecast for the PNW.  The promised snow is due to arrive here on Sunday in great quantities. 

 

7 hours ago, AndyID said:

Not too cold here either. It's 30F but it hasn't stopped snowing all day. Looks like 5 inches now and it's still coming

Much rain here. Much snow in the mountains.

 

Driving home on Interstate 5 my windscreen was suddenly and completely blinded by water thrown up by vehicles ahead twice on my way home from the airport. My wipers are in good order and were on. This is quite terrifying at highway speeds.

 

The forecast for next week suggests a set up for possible sea-level snow mid-week. We shall see.

[Happy Hippo]

24 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

After muggocoffee and some domestic niffnaff and trivia we are off to a garden centre with my Dad and a friend. Fortunately it contains a Hobbycraft branch so while SWMBO and pal are examining things horticultural I'll browse around there and probably spend a few mo****ing tokens. 

That'll be Bridgemere.

 

I am taken there on a regular basis.

 

The Obergrumpenfuhrer goes on the off chance she will by something, I'm just there for the food, to act as a chauffeur and also as the Pioneer (An army type, generally known for being exceptional at lifting heavy things.)

 

Since she is out this morning on Girlguiding duties, I want to drift into the garage and create a sinuous curved crossover from a pile of rail, chairs and pre-cut timbers. 

 

I should go food shopping, and then fix a broken notice board for the Brownies.

 

Such decisions should only be taken after a wallow in the hollow.

[Shedman5]

Morning, lots to catch up on as yesterday was spent tackling a long list of jobs  some of which where outside. The weather was good yesterday dry and blue sky however not the  case today!

 

So after a browse through the papers etc its off to the shed, all shopping etc has been done so no need to go anywhere. M6 is closed between two junctions for the weekend to facilitate  the removal of a bridge south of Lancaster.The A road which will have to take the traffic will be a nightmare.

 

Enjoy your day

 

Alan

[New Haven Neil]

MOrning.

 

Blowing a hoolie here, an imperial hoolie (the units are larger than metric), the UK was cut off overnight but I see the Ben has sailed this morning, it did not look 'comfortable'.

 

Didn't go out for my walk first thing whilst Mrs NHN is being Pilated, it really is nasty out.  No plans yet made for later, the chance of mudelling is tempered by the inability to heat the garage adequately when it is this windy.

 

Baz, there are hundreds of those Llath places - they even give them a number as well as a name.  100 Llath, 200 Llath..... 

[New Haven Neil]

13 hours ago, 81C said:

A 47xx and 57xx sound better. 

 

Got two 57's Bob, but a 47 ain't going to cut it in a yellow area!  I think the biggest thing up the S&W was a 2251.

[Sir TophamHatt]

Well, so far at work I've done about an hours worth, despite being here for the last 4.
But at least that's just the way this job is!

 

Only have 3 hours left, and have a 2 hour film to watch in that time!

 

But can't wait to get home and get on the model railway.  Spent some time cleaning it with the CMX cleaner a few days back so now I need to test the "other" line to see what locos can haul what up my stupidly steep (it's not that bad!) hill.