In/Out vote still way off & Logging for El Nino

The Express this morning gives space to the part of HM's speech yesterday about the in/out vote regarding our EU participation.  After all the column inches about it though the deadline for the vote remains at the end of 2017 - - -

The aftermath of the Texas flooding is illustrated in this CNN news video - - -

while in India the South West monsoon has yet to arrive as the road surface in this pic melts - - -

A touching story from the  West Country as they prepare to hold a funeral for "Desmond Duck".  The duck apparently lived on the local pond for 25 years until recently a fox had him for breakfast! - - -




Closer to home yesterday we managed a bit of logging to reduce the pile of branches to firewood

here Sally keeps Napkin and Bertie out of the way as i drive Boris through the gate 

we soon have a decent addition to the existing pile as well as bringing some cut wood back home.  We have decided to increase the height of the woodpile in Boris's carport after hearing about the "El Nino" effect which has been reported widely in the news media which might or might not be bringing a severe winter 

After the tortuous time my mate John and I had on the 5.5 hour walk of Scafell the other week i'm itching to do the walk again.

in the pic John stands next to the snowy trig point.  I'm planning to give it a go early June, unfortunately John will be on hols with his wife then.  I have studied the googlemap aerial view of Scafell and believe we didnt stray too far off the main route and can only surmise that the weather conditions took their toll on our time.  I'm hoping the weather will be kinder on the next visit!

The data transfer from the birdfeeders and weathercam is for the time being "fixed", the transfer has run for 2 days now without a miss so its a case of watch and wait until it throws another wobbler - - - 

 not a bad Temp. stat this morning with a bit of a breeze showing at the moment 

 the weathercam shows us a cloudy aspect and we have already had a little rain.  The forecasters are edgeing their bets by suggesting it might rain anytime between "sunny periods" 

 the Squirrel gives a close up while looking for his breakfast, no doubt he will re-visit once i put out the birdfood 

Enjoy the day 

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EU Tax plot! & a few garden pics

The story behind the headline  presents a nightmare set of tax rules that the EU mandarins might impose on the UK! - - - one of the banner headlines promises a "new simple high fibre diet" will beat diabetes - - - some things never change - - -

the misery persists  in the US as heavy rain cuases flash flooding and a "state of disaster" has been declared in 40 Texan counties - - - the southern state weather forecast doesn't give any indication of this weather pattern subsiding yet.

The heatwave in India on the other hand looks set to break in the next few days at the start of the monsoon season - - -





Closer to home the data transfer issue with the birdfeeder and weathercam pics seems to have been resolved by me switching off the wifi and relying solely on the cable connection.  Its been running for 24hrs now without a problem -- - fingers crossed.

I had thought we might have a leak in the pond liner after watching the level fall a little too quickly for it to be evaporation

i had noticed a leak on one of the of the 2 outlets from the filter box beneath the brown cover in the pic some time ago.  the earth below the filter box looked sodden and on investigation an o ring washer looked to be the culprit.  Search as i did i couldnt find one to fit so it was a case of some duct tape and an old tube LS - X  leak sealer which did the trick 

  with an hour needed for the sealant to cure we lunched at the Grouse (nice pic of the buttercups) and i then re-assembled the connection - - - so far all looks to be well - - - 

the rather dull weather of late has not deterred the pond plants from flourishing - - - 

looking up the garden from the pond the bluebells are probably at their best now 

 i spot LM waiting for a bird or a mouse to appear below the birdfeeders

and the view from top of the garden shows its 6 a.m. and the sun is already on the hillside opposite.  The Iris plant in the foreground was ejected from the pond years ago to what used to be the far reaches of our encroachment.  It has never bloomed, after all this time though  it looks like this year we might get some from it! 

 quite a chilly feeling to the 5c this morning after the double figure mornings of late 

the weathercam shows a fabulous sky this morning.  The weatherfolks are predicting it will cloud over quickly but are divided about when the rain will come,  Metcheck 12:00, Met O 15:00, BBC 19:00 - - - we shall see 

Enjoy the day 

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Deadly pollen alert! & better weather here today

The express is back to the "health thing" this morning, the problem is pollen from the "ragweed" plant which has come over from Europe.  I guess it must be part of some EU quota!
The pollen from this plant was detected on several consecutive days last year and "experts" believe it might flourish in Southern Britain due to the changing climate - - - as a bit of an "extra" health kick the front page also has "your ten step plan to prevent type 2 diabetes" - - -

after the floods in the Southern Plains area of the US a deadly tornado strikes around the Mexico/US border with reports of 13 dead and a story of a mother having her baby ripped from her arms during the storm - - -

The Heatwave in India reckons to have killed 500 so far - - - In the link the BBC weather forecaster intimates that the 48c temperatures are not uncommon as the continent builds up to the start of the South West Monsoon period.

as a consequence of this the normally sunny Maldives are experiencing rain.  This pic of the resort of Kurudu shows a huge rain cloud dropping its rain into the ocean some way off - - - it would be hugely disappointing to spend all that money going to the Maldives and have this type of weather! - - -

Closer to home the weather is a little brighter today

the current Temp is already in double figures and the windspeed is low 

 although the cloud has been rather grey early on it looks quite benign right now

 as part of our "Sky Terrace" project we bought a Cherry Tree and a Honeysuckle yesterday

here Sally "waters in" the honeysuckle while i stand back and admire my tree positioning 

as usual our resident squirrel is plundering the peanuts for its breakfast - - - 

The current problem with data transfer from our birdfeeder and weathercam camera's is still perplexing me.  I discovered yesterday that leaving the screen up on the old machine seemed to allow transfer OK.  This is with the machine being told that it should do nothing when the lid is closed?  

When the data cable breakage occurred i switched the machine to wifi and left it on when i repaired the cable.  I have switched it off and closed the screen now and it seems to be working.  I guess it could be a long process of elimination before i find the cause! - - -

Enjoy the day 

Follow this link to see  our weather website

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wild weather elsewhere & a grey day here

The Express has the headline banning EU migrants from voting in the In/Out election.  I'm not sure this shouldn't have been "on the table" right at the start - - -

Flash floods in Texas  are causing havoc after record rainfall amounts caused the Blanco River to rise more than 8 metres in an hour.  The US National weather service is also issuing warnings that more wild weather is expected as "Strong to Severe thunderstorms are forecast across a large stretch of the southern plains" - - -

 In India on the other hand there is an intense heatwave going on  in some parts of the country.  Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh recorded a temperature of 48c and the present conditions are expected to continue for the next 4 days - - -


Closer to home the weather has been dull for a couple of days and it looks set to continue and finish off the Bank Holiday in a similar vein

 mild stats Temp. once again 

 decidedly grey on the weathercam with not much hope of a sunny day ahead 

one of the problems with the data transfer was resolved yesterday when i spotted damage on the cat5 cable, i repaired it and its working again but the softwarec transferring the images is still playing up 

 the squirrel has a go at the sunflower seeds 

and this female blackbird looks to be enjoying the peanuts 

The Azalea is in all its finery just now 

as are the hawthorn bushes along the river 

these geese, Greylag i think flew overhead and then landed on the river as i walked by, i missed getting a pic of a heron later as it darted away down the river.

difficult to see but there's a fox being given a hard time by the cow under the tree as it tries to get at something it wants 

Enjoy the day 

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Scafell lost dog mystery resolved & time to sort the data feed problems

Looks as if the Express has some substance to another miracle cure - - - Reading the text behind the headline has encouraging signs as the chief clinician of Cancer Research UK has said , "these results are far better than we expected we aqre surprised and and impressed by how good they are" - - -

The news story about the dog found on scafell pike might not be such a mystery after all.  While my old mate John and I were camping at Seathwaite Farm at the top of the Borrowdale valley at the foot of Scafell (last monday) the farmer told us one of his sheepdogs had run off while herding sheep.
The couple who found the dog took it home to Glasgow and handed it in to the RSPCA
 I reckon this must be the mystery dog.  I was out with No 1 daughter yesterday for lunch when John phoned me with news of the "tail".  He had contacted the Scottish RSPCA and given them the location and Tel number of the farm - - - we await developments - - -

 warm Temp stat this morning here's hoping the rain keeps away 

lots of cloud on the weathercam, the forecast is for the possibility of rain until 12:00, variable amounts of cloud all day with the possibility of some sun towards the end of the afternoon 

The data from the birdfeeder and weather cams is still giving problems so its time to have a concerted effort to resolve it today

Enjoy the day 

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Roll up for a cheap mortgage & LM relaxing pics

A crumb of comfort for home buyers in the Express this morning but i wonder how many young people nowadays can afford the luxury of even thinking of buying a house let alone the thought of paying a mortgage for 20 or so years - - -

 LM looks rather regal sitting on the windowsill yesterday 

 but he decides its all too much and has a sleep on the swinging seat 

 logging earlier in the day i started cutting the large pile in the pic. 

 some time later with a loaded Boris and the beginnings of a pile of firewood its time to call it a day, still lots to cut! - - - 

mild stats again this morning.  I'm still having problems with the pics from the weather and birdfeeder cam, cant seem to locate the problem - - - 

Enjoy the day 

Follow this link to see  our weather website

Or this one just to see  Live webcam - - Birdfeeders