harryc

CAT BULLETIN

As Paul mentioned in on of his posts, we have acquired a cat - a mature female cat. Her name is Georgia but she prefers to be known as Georgie

Her previous owner has relocated to the west of Ireland, but Georgie decided that she would have a better lifestyle here  - (this girl is no fool !!)

She will have been with us three weeks next Sunday and has had to spend the time so far confined to the house. The vet tells us that mature cats should spend a minimum of three weeks indoors otherwise she would seek out her previous abode.

Here she is surveying her future domain -

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"Next Monday, kid, all this will be yours "

In the meantime she spends her time relaxing -

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and sometimes she can be persuaded to lighten up -

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But she's keen to get out and about - access is already in place -

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She's spent some time tarting herself up - . 

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So roll on Monday and good luck girl !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GARDEN INVADERS

Squirrels and I have never got along. There are far too many of them. They are aggressive and greedy !

We have a biggish garden and it backs onto private woods. My wife has a mission in life to feed every bird in existence and so we have numerous bird-feeders and trays dotted around the place.

It is a delight to watch the birds go through their feeding routines - robin,tits ,finches,thrushes,starlings,blackbirds and occasionally some lovely woodpeckers who live in the woods at the back. There is also a sizable colony of pigeons and doves and the occasional visit from some pheasants (escapees from a breeding farm for shoots up the road)

All these birds share the food and seem to mix happily together.

ENTER THE SQUIRRELS !!!!!!!!!

Word has obviously got round that there is an abundance of food at our place and the squirrels seem intent on having the lot. We tried initially to have a feeder near the house exclusively for the birds, but this is what happened :

They would shimmy up the steel pole, hang on the feeder and gorge themselves.

We then started to grease the pole every day and watched them try to climb and slide back down again.But after the first few volunteers most of the grease would be absorbed on their fur and they could make it to the top again.

Eventually my wife found a device that seems thwart their best efforts to get to the top.

It's a plastic dome and, although some of them come every day to inspect the device, they have failed to crack it so far.

But I know how cunning they are and they'll keep working on a solution.

Although I despise the little culprits I do admire their persistence !!!!                              

                  

RADIO DAYS !!

                         

                                     

I love to read Beeker's blog and recently she did a piece on Radio as a medium - you will find it here :- http://beeker.typepad.com/beeker_ideas/2007/01/theres_lots_of_.html

In it she says " there's something about it (Radio) that means tradition and nostalgia in a good way"..................

Radio for me conjures up all sorts of memories of life in the late 40s and 50s growing up in Ireland.

My father, who was in the British Merchant Navy brought home our very first radio in 1947. It was an American 'Philco' and was, of course electric.But we didn't have electricity in those days (we used gas supplied by the local gasworks) - so we sat and admired the radio for a few days. Then amid great excitement my Uncle Mike changed the transformer and rigged up a collection of wet and dry batteries, switched on, and we were in business !!

Me and my brothers loved that old radio - it opened up a whole new world of entertainment to us. We got the Radio Times every week and there was sport,music,plays and radio serials like ' Dick Barton - Special Agent'. I remember listening to a crackly broadcast from America of the world heavyweight title fight between the legendary Joe Louis and Jersey Joe Walcott in 1947.

By today's standards reception was not great. Unfortunately, the batteries ran down regularly and usually when there was something special to listen to.

When "Rural Electrification" came to town and the old Philco with its batteries bit the dust and we acquired our first electric "Pye" radio.Thereafter radio became an integral part of our lives.

Sunday mornings when my mother would be preparing lunch or baking a cake she would always listen to Family Favourites on the BBC (this was a request program for soldiers serving in Germany). This was followed by the Billy Cotton Band Show. In the Summer days in June at teatime we would listen to the broadcasts from Wimbledon with players such as Jaroslav Drobney,Pancho Gonzales,Hoad and Rosewall - long before Bjorn, Connors or McEnroe came along.

There were some revolutionary comedy programs like 'Round the Horne' ,Hancock's Half Hour and the Goon Show. Later Radio Luxembourg arrived with the Top Twenty and then came Pirate Radio operating from various ships off-shore. I heard Elvis, Johnny Cash, Bill Haley and the Comets and the Beatles for the first time on radio.

Apart from all the nostalgic memories I still love radio and I was delighted when my wife gave me a DAB radio at Christmas last year - perfect reception and no batteries...!!!!

THE RUMOUR IS TRUE ..........!!!!!!

Yep, the rumour is true - I've got a blog. Paul gave it to me as a present for my birthday last Sunday.

I have no idea yet what I'm going to write about. I love the challenge of it but I must admit to strong feelings of apprehension at this stage. I suppose the worst that can happen is that nobody reads it, although I can pretty well rely on the family !

A few facts at the outset :

I've just turned 70 and whereas I have no intention of winding down, there will be times when I may not know what I'm talking about. As Groucho said ' if I'd known I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself' !!

I have failed dismally so far to embed a video despite Paul's list of instructions - I need serious help....................!

and finally I work on a PC , not your white hot Mac - but I'll press on, there's much to be done.

See you around !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!