Tuesday is Blah-day...

[byslantedlight]

I seem to be having one of those blah-days, even though I have lots of work to get on with, and there's lots of things to look forward to. Next weekend the clocks go forward here, and it will feel more cheerful again. Next Monday might be the end of lockdown here, and it will be lovely to be able to escape a bit (and finally buy some things that aren't essential, but would be very handy, like a metal bin of some kind to keep bird food in outside rather than in the way inside, and a clothes line in anticipation of the nicer weather, and curtain rods for my office shed so that I'm not blinded by the sun through my window when it's not grey like today, and... you know. Stuff. *g*) Then the weekend after that is the long Easter weekend, which will be nice even if I don't go anywhere.

And yet I am still sitting here today at my desk with hours of very dull reading ahead of me and glumping about it... *headdesk* - honestly, some days I just need to get over myself, right?! Let's have some pics of pretty things, and then you can tell me how you're doing!

Look - the sun's coming back! Someone also put up a nesting box in this old barn, and I almost always see the big ghosty-white barn owl flying around the field if I walk that way around sunset. And there have been some lovely sunsets - later and later in the evening.


There is blossom about!


And flowers springing up.


And lads always on the verge of stories in the background...

Comments

[milomaus.livejournal.com]

So cool that you are able to see a barn owl!
And blossoms, spring ans Easter!

And you lucky guys, end of lockdown! Ours just got extended again.

Hope you get to write something!
My news are up on threema. 😸😸

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I saw that you just got extended — ack. I'm hoping we don't end up in the same situation in a few weeks time, after things are relaxed again...

I glanced at Threema but wasn't allowed to reply cos I was working... kind of like today... *headdesk* What did we do before all this social media...?! And I owe you a drabble... and a certain other something which I'm working on. *g*

There's all sorts of wildlife down here, it's lovely. *g*

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've never seen a barn owl! (apart from in photos, of course). How wonderful! We do hear an owl or two around here sometimes, but I've no idea what kind they might be. When Dog was still around, the owls did cause some absolutely heart-stopping EVERYBODY WAKE UP IT'S 4am AND THERE ARE OWLS barking, never to be forgotten.

I think the imminent easing of lockdown (whether it turns out to be premature or not) is going to feel weird, but I will admit to looking forward to a haircut because it's at the constantly-in-your-eyes stage (>.<)

Hope the dull reading at least goes lightly and smoothly by :-s

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

How fab that you have owls in the city — I'm so pleased to hear that! Heee for Dog letting you know about the owls. Hope the same courtesy would have been extended to burglars... *vbg*

I've cut my fringe once already this lockdown, and am thinking I'll have to do it again soon — I suspect it'll take me a while to get an appointment even when they open again (which is two weeks after next Monday, I think?)

And ugh — anything that starts off "In order to measure mission internalisation..." Although I suppose I could background-wonder how far the lads have to internalise their missions... *g*

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

Oh is that what they're calling it these days ... ? *g*

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Heeeeee!

You're always giving me extra to think about... *vbg*

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

(Yes, Dog very emphatically let us know all about Imminent owls, Persistent pigeons and highly Suspicious squirrels. Burglars would probably have received the same high-decibel treatment, though I'm glad to say we never actually found out for sure! The squirrels are in fact a very dodgy lot, so Dog was right, plus we also now have parakeets who are if anything even more bloody persistent than the pigeons ಠ_ಠ. )

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Hee — those squirrels! *g* And wow — parakeets down your way? Do you think lockdown let them expand their territory, or were they just happily spreading out anyway?

I've got cows wandering up and down the track again now too — it's March, so they're back out in the fields! I should have included that as another sign of spring.... *g*

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

Oh those parakeets have been planning and implementing a takeover strategy for years, the little buggers. Very cute to look at, but noisy as all get out and they have turfed the woodpeckers out of hole and home (literally — saw them do it! Still, at least the woodpeckers have the built-in technology to make a new home; hope they do so).

Can the cows come up to your window if they want to, and if so do they?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Blimey — had no idea parakeets were so aggressive to woodpeckers! I'd never seen a woodpecker until I lived in Cambs., and was so chuffed then. Then I never saw one once I'd moved to Somerset — until this year, when there seems to be one living down by the river, so I'm all chuffed again. It's a different kind to the Cambs. one too. So yeay — I really hope your woodpeckers hang around, cos they're cool...

Nah, the cows can't come up to my window — there's a fence between my garden and them, and my office shed faces the other way. But they can come up to my fence, and did when I was out there the other day. They're nosy buggers, as the farmer says... *g* But I can see them through my kitchen windows too — they could conceivably come up to that window if the gate was left open while they were going back and forth from milking, and they decided to be nosy — but it's not happened yet, and they'd also have to manoevre around my car and recycling bins. *g*

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

I think the parakeets are just Rather Assertive to anyone they come across, really :-s
The woodpeckers had made a very nice hole and nested in it for a couple of years, and then the parakeets said yes it was a very nice hole and it would be a pity if anything happened to the woodpeckers nesting in it (as far as I can tell; I don't speak parakeet. But whatever it was they were very emphatic).
Seen the black white and red woodpeckers for the most part, but saw one of the green ones once or twice — think they're less common — but only the black-white-red ones come to the bird feeder.
One of the robins— can't tell the two apart — has graduated to coming to the window and loudly demanding breakfast. It also occasionally demands that you bring the food not just near it, but right into its beak (only once in a while, though. A couple of feet will suffice for tribute usually, then it comes and gets it from you).
Why yes, it does feel very very lockdowny of late around here, and I might be a bit stir-crazy, why do you ask ... :-s

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Nearly nearly nearly there... hopefully, maybe, perhaps next Monday we can go places again (while still "staying local as much as possible"...) I am very impressed that you have coped with lockdown by taming robins though! *g*

How funny — it's the back-white-red kind that I've only just seen for the first time ever. In Cambs. it was always the green ones that hung around on the garden lawn. They've not ventured anywhere near the houses here, as far as I've heard so far — but now I'm hopeful that maybe they will! Mind you, the way the rest of them are going through my bird feeders, I'm not sure I can cope with many more!

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

Fabulous, beautiful photos! Especially the night time ones and that red and white flower... never seen it before.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Believe it or not that red and white flower (you mean the second one?) is just cherry blossom — it was just looking extra gorgeous that day... *g*

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

That's the one, it's very striking.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I think I caught them at just the perfect moment — when I saw the tree again today it was alot less dramatic, because the leaves were coming out more...

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

Ooh, flowers! We have no flowers here yet, of course. Although we also have no snow. It has been unusually warm. It looks like I might have to just turn the snow blower on and run it till it runs out of gas before storing it until next winter. (Of course, having said that, there will likely be a 12-inch snow storm in April now!) And lovely barn owl! I think this new place is working out quite well, isn't it?

I am in my usual early spring-I don't-want-to-do-anything-at-work funk, but this time there's more of a problem because we've temporarily gone from single semesters to "modules" of about 7 1/2 weeks each. So, we're just staring module 4 and I have classes to teach. Ack. Must get motivated. (Even worse, we'll be having a module 5, May-early July, which will be totally weird. We have no summer classes and so that's the time for projects. Huh.)

Lovely lads to brighten any day, don't they?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It's so nice to see the flowers, I have to say! I think we really need those splashes of hope around at the moment!

Eep for having to waste the petrol in your snow-blower... you can't just leave it in and store it until next year? I'd definitely wait until after April though, either way - we can even still get snow over here in April! *g*

Eep for changes to your work too — is that because it's all gone online then? Or are you back teaching in person etc. now?

At least there's the lads... *g*

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

Sadly, the gas goes bad if it is left in the tank over the summer, and can actually cause some damage. So you need to either run it out or siphon it off and take it to br properly disposed of. I have to do ty hat with the gas I have in the can, too. I really hate having a small gas engine, but for a snow blower you really need it, and I need a snow blower for those jobs I can't handle with just a shovel. I am going to get an electric lawn mower, though, so at least I won't have to deal with gas and oil for that one!

Yeah, they moved to a "module" system where students would only take two classes per module to try to make up for some of the difficulties with online and distance learning. It's been a tough year. We've had some hybrid courses, but especially in winter most were online only. All my teaching has been via zoom or asynchronous. I'm tired of it. I do like being at home, and actually one-on-one consultations are fine via zoom, but teaching a class via zoom is unsatisfying. We are going back to semesters next fall, and hopefully we'll be back in-person then, too.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I'm soooo slow replying - sorry!

I had to look up about petrol going off - I had no idea! Oddly enough I've just been given a small electric lawnmower. I've never had one before, or even had a lawn that I needed to mow myself (though I strimmed vast swathes for my landlord last year!)

Ack for teaching via Zoom, I have to say I don't fancy the idea much either. I used to think it would be ideal to teach online, but having worked with examining teams online and in person, which isn't quite teaching but is close, it's sooo much better in person. Crossing fingers for you!

[stellar_raven]

Ahhhh, lovely flower pictures!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Thank you! *g*