Sunsets, Frost, Birds & Earthquakes

It's been a busy week, it feels like it should be Friday but we're only on Thursday. Towards the end of last week we had some beautiful frosty mornings.

The sunsets have been amazing over the last week, night after night we've been treated to glorious reds and yellows illuminating the sky.

At the weekend we dropped into one of my old bird watching haunts, Carlton Marsh, while I faffed about with the bazooka lens, Debbie got a cracking picture of a Robin in the middle of a hedge.

From there we called into a newish nature reserve, a lake at Park Springs in Grimethopre near Barnsley. There was plenty there to snap away at but the miserable cold and wind soon took it's toll and we were off for a nice hot cuppa.

The earthquake has taken it out of Debbie, getting up to see to Eddie and Champagne while I rolled over and fell asleep again. I must admit I never felt the earthquake, just Lucy vaulting off the bed at high speed. I don't think Debbie got back to sleep until after 4 in the morning.

We're just looking forward to the weekend now, time to chill, no earthquakes, no vaulting dogs and no hysterical cockatiels.

Paul

Did The Earth Move For You?

In the early hours of this morning, Eddie says to Champagne, "did you feel that?". Champagne replies "yep, eeaaarthquaaake!!", "flap for your lives!!".

Lucy woke up, strait off the bed, "let me see, let me see!".

Debbie calmed the birds down while I went back to sleep.

Paul.

Frosty This Morning

It was really frosty this morning, I wish I'd had the camera with me, this snap on the mobile doesn't do the beautiful scenery justice.

Paul.

Worsborough Country Park - Feb 08

We've been out this afternoon for a walk round Worsborough Country Park, taking advantage of the wonderful winter sunshine. We had a hard frost this morning which was still hanging on in shaded areas.

I don't think it's that long since we last went but since then, a new bird hide has sprung up and a bridge we always used to cross seems to be suffering from an acute case of falling to bits.

Lucy had a ball usually and everything was calm and relaxed until we almost got home when Debbie announced that we were nearly home and Lucy threw up in the excitement. Luckily she was in her carry cage so wasn't too bad.. Until Debbie reversed the car in the drive, with me forgetting to belt the cage in and Lucy doing a dance, the cage did a 360 off the chair. Spent the next hour cleaning Lucy, the cage and the car!

Remember, clunk-click, every trip, or you'll end up covered in dog puke.

Paul.

BARLA Lions

We went to watch Debbie's Nephew last night playing Rugby League. He's made it to the BARLA Lions team and he looks the business in the British red, white and blue!

Last night they were playing a senior Police team, we didn't have to know anything about rugby to realiase that our young British team were running rings round Police Squad.

We're both really proud of him, he's worked so hard to get where he is now. Who knows, in a couple of years, we might even understand the rules!

Paul.

Walking Round Wortley Hall

It's been a ridiculously busy weekend again, swimming on Saturday then shopping in town, more shopping and finally a trip to the garden centre for bird food. No let up on Today we've been swimming again then went to see Dad, had breakfast for lunch before heading out for a 3 hour walk around Wortley.

We would have probably been better having a 3 hour snooze but we just couldn't pass up this beautiful spring like weather.

Debbie got this picture of a Robin in a fraction of a second after I'd spent 5 minutes mucking about the slr.

Paul.

Eddie & Champagne

Here's Eddie and Champagne!

Eddie has been with us for a while but he was going bonkers in his cage all alone, so on New Years Eve along came his girlfriend Champagne. Now we've got two cockatiels going bonkers!

Eddie loves posing for the camera, always willing to strut his stuff for a flattering shot.

Champagne has got bit more of a cheeky streak and as soon as the cage door is open, she's off!

They're both getting on like a house on fire and driving poor old Lucy to distraction!

Eddie is the more vocal of the the two and tends to sing quite a lot, truth be told, he never shuts up!

Champagne is more playful, manoeuvring round the cage and playing with the toys while Eddie sits on his perch squawking away.

We really weren't sure about about getting Eddie a friend but we're so glad we did because they both seem to be enjoying life to the full, every morning they're perched side by side having had a good nights sleep.

Paul

A Walk Around Langset In The Snow

We never did see much in the way of the forecast snow on Friday and my frantic checking of the radar was starting to get to poor Debbie. She just told me to put the phone down and it'll be white over in the morning. Sure enough, against all odds, it was!

We'd had about half an inch of snow overnight and so after swimming, decided to go for a walk round Langset Reservoir. By the time we set off, almost all of the snow had melted at home but thankfully it was still holding on up in the Pennines.

We set of on our normal route but decided to do it in reverse, when we came to a parting of the paths, rather than battle through the muddy woods, we opted for a higher route. We didn't realise this would take us right on the top of Langset Moor!

It was absolutely freezing up there in the bleak wilderness, there wasn't a soul about, all we had for company were loads of grouse calling and fluttering into the air.

We were walking non stop for over two and half hours, Lucy's little legs were worn out. We thoroughly enjoyed it though, but not half as much as the hot cup of coffee when we got back to the car!

There's many more pictures from our Arctic expedition in our Flickr Snow Set.

Paul.